Woes of Alex J Mercer
by 666cookieMONSTER666
Summary: This story takes place after the events of [Prototype]. The events of which this story tell are purely alternative, meaning they take place in an alternate universe from [Prototype]. FE: Elizabeth Greene is no longer the parent of Pariah, and a few other changes have been made.
1. Chapter 1

The helicopter is violently thwooping now. His time is short, and the nuclear blast is imminent. The source of his determination sprouts from his guilt and responsibility knowing that if the nuke goes off now, all of New York will be doomed. The only option he chooses turns out to be the most risky and dangerous. Is it worth putting himself in harm's way for a scruffy, cold city that hurt him throughout the entirety of his life? Yes…

The chopper ascends into the air, carrying the nuke with it. Aiming away from New York city, the best bet would be to dump the nuke into the water somewhere off shore. Would this be the end of Alex Mercer? The sudden realization causes him to recall all the memories he once lived. From growing up in severe poverty, to dying in Penn Station. These memories seemed familiar… Yet none of them belonged to him.

The truth as it turned out, was that he wasn't the real Alex Mercer. No, in fact Alex Mercer died when he was shot in Penn Station, the virus he threw to the ground before he died merely used his dead body as a host along with obtaining the bodies memories. Even though he wasn't really human… Just some sentient virus, he still acted and carried on like Mercer did. Including feeling things that humans would, and right now he felt truly pained. Moving farther from the city there are flashes of lightning amongst the dark clouds blinding him. No sound is made but you could tell it is there. Would he die like that? Knowing the bomb went off, but dying in an instant?

Alex Mercer's sister Dana Mercer was the only thing in his life that he was going to miss. Even then, if he somehow did survive. What would she think if she found out her real brother died, and that a virus was using her dead brother's body as a host? Of course there was the option the lie to her. But how could Alex bring himself to lie to someone as dear as Dana?

The helicopter alerts him that time is of the essence. Dropping the nuke into the water Mercer has an epiphany. There was a small chance that if he were to ditch the chopper and jump back to shore at the docs he could survive. Was there enough time? Was it worth it? Did he even deserve to live?

The original Alex Mercer was the whole reason he was in this mess. The man was selfish, greedy, and a loner who cared for no one but himself in the end. Because of his actions the virus resurrected. Yet that wasn't this Mercer's fault. The fault was to be placed in the hands of the original Alex. This Alex Mercer was different. Sure he was a loner at times but he started to care for Dana again. Not only that but his actions saved this city.

Jumping out of the helicopter the sound of thunder in the distance can be heard. The water is cold, unforgiving like recent times. Disorienting flashes of lightning distract him but he has no choice but to keep going. The splash of the helicopter sinking can be heard, distracting Mercer for a brief second. NO he must not look back. Unless he's focused he is surely to fall into the grim grasp of death itself. The movements were getting repetitive now. Jump up from the water and dash, repeat Jump up from the water and dash. Being drenched in moisture the prototype lets out small shivering breaths with each jump out of the water. The combined New York wind and New York water, both were making him feel somewhat unhopeful.

The docs were still easily miles away. The dark New York sky is bleak and foreboding, warning him that his life may very well come to a short stop at any second now. BOOM! The nuke goes off catching Mercer off guard. His ear drums ruptured. The pain hurts but he has already learned long ago that physical pain can heal, but emotional pain cannot. His ears were ringing… And his body sent flying from the shockwave. He was more forward now but still not close enough to the docs…

Was this how it ends? At least he could take pride in the fact that he became stronger now and beat the corrupt military. These past few months his body evolved, he had no choice but to do so in order to defeat both the infected and the military. He was the prototype for Pariah. He could have helped the infected that was his destiny but he refused. He could have chosen to side with the military but he resisted.

In the end Alex Mercer beat the odds. He was outnumbered, the opposing force was almost uncountable! Yet he somehow found a way to the truth, solving the conspiracy. He somehow found a way to stop the infected from warping the world into some twisted, dark, place that could only be inhabited by infection filled creatures. He somehow found a way to stop the military from wiping New York clean off the map. That 'somehow' was going to prove to be the end of his life very shortly.

He closes his eyes. Defeat washes over him. Pure unrelenting anguish knowing he'll never see Dana again, or learn to love anyone else besides that witch who backstabbed him known as Karen Parker. The nuclear blast tears into him, eating away at his once thought indestructible skin. Sure he could take pride in the things mentioned before but he didn't. He felt ashamed knowing that Dana was going to live in a world without her only parental figure who was Alex.

TO HELL WITH GIVING UP! He could have died so many times before, why quit now? Pushing forward Alex sends his body to the brink. The pain he is indulging himself in is unbelievable. Jumping faster and higher than he thought he could, along with dashing farther than he thought he could. He was still blinded by the white flash, and his eyes are beginning to be ripped away. The skin on every crevice of his body is gone now, the blast is still going and he's within it. There was no POSSIBLE way he could make it yet he tries anyway.

The surge of adrenaline and endorphin surge through his body. At times like this if he were in battle and he felt this feeling he'd know that his muscle mass was drained fully, and his life source itself was depleted. Yet this feeling could allow him to use to ONE single devastator and would grant him invulnerability for a brief period of time. He referred to this as adrenaline surge.

An idea pops in his head. Tactical thinking like this was learned by consuming people who had years of military experience, and people who had years of scientific knowledge. He knew he could only use ONE devastator but perhaps his body could evolve to allow him to instead us this opportunity to boost his agility. Trying this his body shrouds his legs with tendrils, and an aura of redness glows off him as he gives one ALMIGHTY jump, and two glorious dashes in the direction of forward.

Did he make it? Surely it was impossible, there's no way in hell he survived. Did he?

A carcass lands next to a bench. The thing looks almost unrecognizable. Just a small sack of meat. A crow passing by notices the delicacy. The chance to get easy food was always a good idea. So the crow swoops down, elegantly landing next to the small sack of meat and rips a chunk off. Flying onto the park bench to safely enjoy its meal something is wrong…

This piece of meat is too hard to be eaten! The crow drops the meat on the bench to rest its tired beak before trying at it again. Wait? What's this? The meat has sent two strands of tendrils onto the crow. In panic the poor animal screeches twice before the two thin strands pull it down to the center of the chunk. From there the unlucky creature is ripped apart by several other tendrils that dissolve and absorb the pieces of meat it ripped off. In just four seconds the crow thought it was in control, but alas it has become the prey. All it took was seconds for it to be completely consumed as well.

The small chunk on the bench is growing larger now, and slithers back down to the original pile. The sound of splicks and splacks are released as blood forms and meat forms. His bones form, each one giving off cringeful snapping noises. The outline of a meaty blood colored person can be seen now, his head arches back as his teeth rip out as they have just formed. The pain is similar to that of braking his bones, and cutting skin. When his teeth formed he could have sworn it felt just like that time he was a small child and his adult teeth were painfully forming.

Standing on the sidewalk naked his eyes widened as his body begins to form the fabric that was his original outfit. Sure he knew that it was biomass, but it was still impressive. Silence fills him, his head looks to the left as he hears the meaty sounds of his fingers still regenerating. It was finally over, but would his pain be over? No….

Thinking back to what had just happened his hope is left shattered, he had just survived a nuke… He was a monster… Heavy rain begins to fall on him, the sidewalk, and the rails beside him. Alex calmly inserts his hands into his pockets, he has no idea why he is not curling into a ball giving up for real now. His only source of illumination is that of the street lights beside the sidewalk, but they are not enough to suffice for a good amount of light.

The rain hits him and his jacket. The only feeling that is real right now is the pain he feels… Mercer begins to let his mind dwell in a pool of despair. His brows begin to knit together. 'I looked for the truth, found it. Didn't like it. Wish to hell I could forget it.' Mercer turns to the railing viewing the water, looking back at the direction of the helicopter. He turns to the side again and begins to walk down the sidewalk with his hands balled inside his coat pockets. Passing each street light, stepping into the light, and then back into the shadows, stepping into the light and then back into the shadows…

'Alex Mercer. This city suffered for his mistakes, for what he did at Penn Station. And whoever he was that's a part of me…' Continuing to walk down the path, the rain still hits him and his hood. 'Cause when I close my eyes I see the memories of a thousand dead men, screaming as I take their lives….. Moments I'll relive forever.' He has no idea where he is walking but that doesn't matter to him. 'What have I become? Something less than human. But also something more.'


	2. Chapter 2: Interaction

Walking down in the direction of the pier the man took solace in the rain and night time sky. The setting around him was a pitch perfect reflection of his inner soul. The predator stops for a second observing the moon. Unaware of the current time, and only using his instincts to depict such information. By now it must have been close to midnight. Returning to reality, Alex looks over his shoulder. Where was he even heading to? If he wanted things to get better he would need to stop and get his 'shit together' and decide on where to go.

Mercer readjusts his jacket and continues to walk down the sidewalk. Which option was the most applicable, he could go to Dana's apartment. Yet right now he didn't want to be around her. Alex Mercer was just a role he played, and lying to Dana for any second longer would brake him. Maybe he could go destroy a hive, or eliminate a Blackwatch base. No… Alex didn't feel like causing the death of anymore lives right now.

The world was growing clearer to the prototype. No matter what path he chose in life he wouldn't fit in. For now he would just have to go with the flow and see where life takes him, continuing down the path Mercer feels the friction of his shoes and the sidewalk meeting together. The constant pattering of his shoes echoed throughout the streets. It seemed that this was the only sound he could hear as of now.

After all these years of living in New York, and consuming multiple Blackwatch troops it could be said that New York is never quiet unless it was forced to be quiet. Maybe a surprise attack was coming his way? The best course of action would be to stay alert. Although Mercer never let his guard down to begin with. After walking all this way he could tell that all directions were clear. But was his aerial position clear?

-BLACKWATCH, MILLITARY BASE-

"Damn't why'd he stop again?..."

"I have no idea John, Maybe it senses something's off?"

"If he spots our cams we'll have to send in our best squad in to apprehend him."

"You know that won't work John. Maybe we can try communicating with it." Steve replied gripping his coffee mug tighter while looking at the bright screens.

"And ask for tea time? That thing right there is a killer! It rips everything it sees to shreds for Christ's sake! Don't be naive Steve" Both men were giving each other heavy glares inside the conference room. The two were good friends at one point, but ever since these past few months things have gotten stressful so to say. Sitting across from each other the two look over to their superior for his view on the situation.

"I wouldn't be so fast to misjudge Steve's plan." The man fixed his tie, all of them were in black suits, but this man in particular had the best out of all of them. This was common place in their field of operations. John scoffed as he heard his superior commend Steve. Meanwhile Steve smiled arrogantly.

"Don't get too ahead of yourself Steve." The high ranking man pinched. Getting out of his seat, the leather chair ruffled and creaked as he sat up alerting the others to his actions. Walking forward and ignoring the nosey stares he stepped closer to the screens until the blue flash was practically glowing off him.

"Communication may not work so send in our elite squad like John said. Yet we use our words first, not our egos and fists." He continued. Times were getting rough for the military, sure they were in a stalemate with the infected. But for how long could they keep this up? Every day was horrible, people cried out, people complained, and people died…

"Both of you go outside and brief the squad of their assignment…"

Mercer still didn't feel like his current location was safe. Right now his instincts were telling him that the current area was compromised. 'One last look…' Mercer activated his thermal vision, looking up there was nothing at first… Wait! Now he could see them clear as ever. Five strike package viral detectors were tailing him. They appeared to be too high so he'd have no choice but to kick it into high gear and book it.

Sprinting now his body shifted slightly forward and the ground beneath him shattered each time his feet hit the ground. Directing himself into the street Alex quickly formed a plan. If he could get them to chase him, he could run up a building and then destroy them all with one expert like swoop. It was easy and practical, and he only needed a second to think of it!

Mercer continued to run, his jacket was rustling in response to the wind resistance. The rain was proving to be less welcoming as the faster he ran the harder the rain hit against him. Yet he continued to run as he was approaching his max speed, the lower half of his legs were letting violently swaying tendrils move about all around. Oddly this always happened when he used a part of his body to the max. A building would be getting in his way, luckily this building seemed to be tall enough. Alex ran forward panting like a madman.

Getting close to the building he anticipated the jump, leaping now he gave off a short "UGH" and yelled "eurf" in reaction to hitting the buildings wall. Racing upward he could feel the glasses obliterate as he made his way to the top of the building. After only a few seconds of racing up he let out another giant jump. Reaching the top of the building he executed an acrobatic flip over the edge. Now that he was at the very top he decided to look down with his thermal vision. His plan worked they were right below!

Mercer looked down and jumped again this time extending his leg out and dashing in the direction of the viral detectors. A mix of red and black tendrils followed him twirling around his legs and arms, there were probably going to be even more after this. Diving straight down an aura of red air trailed with him as he smashed through the invisible detectors, and continued falling.

Diving straight down face first he enjoyed the cool breeze brush past his face, the sound of his leather jacket violently thrashing around due to the wind alerted him of his speed. His landing was coming closer so he flipped over so he could land on his feet, and BOOM. The whole street caved in, the cars around him were sent flying with their glass shattering. Smoke from the rubble and debris filled the air, but it was slowly dissipating so there was no need to use his thermal vision anymore.

-BlackWatch, Millitary base-

"Alright you four get over here now!" John echoed through his already sore throat. This was a typical military base except the only difference was this one had a conference room, lab, and the best of the best.

"Oh great. This better be good, hope it's not just jump in and shoot some shit."

"Shut the hell up Myers, this is the most dangerous mission of your lives."

The four squad members grew silent and looked at each other. Wasn't their job like the rest? Usually they'd only attack hives, do rescue mission, or other stuff like that. They were even sent to attack a groups of alpha hunters all by themselves at one point. What could be more dangerous than that?

"Alex Mercer has been located." The four squad members stood confused and baffled. Who?

"Pardon me sir, but… We have no idea who you're talking about." Sarah Kinsley announced with a still confused look on her face. Usually she knew almost everything when it came to the infected but she had never heard of something like that before. Myers was just as confused, Carol was too but Sam on the other hand. He had a rising suspicion of what they were referring to. Rumors spread across New York's about some terrorist who was infected running around fucking some serious shit up. Yet this couldn't be it, those were most likely myths he thought laughing to himself.

"-sigh- Allow me to repeat after him, Alex Mercer code name Zeus has been spotted."

"Ah so we gotta find this guy and spank him for information or something? Count me out, either give me an important mission or call me when Jennifer Lawrence has been spotted." Myers had always been known for being good on the field but having one of the worst timings to give out his jokes. Carol Parkton tried his best not laugh and kept his face as null as can be. Meanwhile Sarah was letting a thin smile escape her lips, even though she really hated Myers and his jokes.

John walked over to Myers and bitch slapped him across the face. The flying backhand smoothly edged into the smart mouth's mouth. This time everyone started to laugh except for John and Steve. This wasn't good they needed them to be serious, and they actually enjoyed their presence but sending them off like this was heart wrenching.

"Alex Mercer is no laughing matter you fools! Its existence compromises everything!" John screamed.

"How troublesome can one guy be?" Sarah asked in deep concern, there was no way a man like him was more of a threat than an Alpha hunter. How was this going to be their most dangerous mission.

"Alex Mercer is our biggest threat compared to anything BlackWatch has ever faced… He's the most wanted man in the world right now." Steve spoke finishing the sentence for John. Sam L. didn't like where this was going. It was time to speak up.

"I've heard rumors about a guy like this, wasn't he just a civilian?" The others grew even more bewildered, not only was this just one man but he was also a damn civilian! This was getting stranger by the minute. Something felt off to Sarah but she kept her mouth shut, they were talking about this guy like he was some god.

"Alex Mercer is no Civilian, we've obtained new intel on him through spy cams and through Peter Randall. It turns out that He isn't a civilian. He's a virus that used a dead body as a host, the real Alex Mercer is dead."

"What the fuck? So he' like a zombie or something?" Myers wasn't joking now, this was unlike anyother of their missions and it was sure sounding like a real suicide mission.

"No, he's completely intelligent and believed himself to be the real Alex Mercer because he obtained his memories. We're not sure if he still thinks that. As for him being a civilian…. It has been theorized that every person he's 'consumed' has given him their memories." Finishing the sentence with an almost regretful sentence Steve looked down to the ground.

"What do you mean by consume? Did he eat their body parts like a zombie? You need to be more detailed sir." Sarah didn't mean to be upfront but as said previously she usually knew everything about the infected and she stayed that way by asking questions, and getting to know what each term meant. Especially random terms like 'consume'.

"Alex Mercer has this ability where he can absorb people, if he tries this on you you'll be gone in an instant. In this state he regains his health, and recovers from any wounds. It has been said that when he does this he gains the person's skills, abilities, and memories… Not only that but he can also shapeshift to take the form of anyone he consumed…. He could even be in this very room and no one would know." John said massaging his bald head as he eyed the other Blackwatch troops.

"Holy shit that sounds crazy. How are we gonna kill this fool?" Carol voiced unsure of how they could get the drop on such a guy. The whole crew were starting to think that being cocky at first was jinxing the whole situation.

"We're not sending you to kill him as we don't think that's possible…" Steve responded

"Bullshit, we could rip this guy apart if we had enough tanks." Myers shouted. Steve shook his head and was thinking about slapping him again.

"No… Our cameras witnessed him getting incinerated in a nuclear blast…."

"What?" Sarah questioned not knowing what the hell was going on.

"We were going to set a nuke to wipe out all of Manhattan but Alex Mercer intercepted the nuke, fought a Supreme hunter, and then risked his life getting the nuke far away from Manhattan. That's the thing that makes us question his objective. He's been seen assisting the military here and there, and other times attacking. With this it goes to show that he's sticking his neck out of someone else other than him."

"Wait he survived a nuclear blast? When was this? I only knew about him getting spotted recenetly."

"I know it's a lot to take in, but his body was only a small sack of meat after being charred. We thought he was dead but no… He consumed a crow that tried to pick at his remains and regenerated from a small pile of goop…." Steve was frowning furiously now. Nothing like that could be human, yet he was going to still try to interact with it. Although some small scrap of humanity appeared to be in him. Steve didn't see it at first, but when he zoomed in on the cameras he witnessed Alex's face filled with remorse and pain or what looked like it, the other people in the room at the time thought he was pissed that he was damaged but he had his own ideas. Maybe they could use this to end the nonsensical fighting.

"If… If we're not killing this guy what are we doing then? I'm not always worried but this is making me shit my pants guys." Myers wasn't always one to be serious but when he was it was never a good sign. Sarah could feel tension building up.

"We're assigning you to meet up with the target and to perhaps negotiate with him to come back to this base to come up with a deal." John looked and Steve and guessed he was right, maybe their best squad wasn't good enough to kill him. Yet they could be the best for convincing him to give in and comply.

"Alright you all have your orders, head to the objective marker on your radars." John ordered.

"Wait! We forgot to mention this. Zeus's real form is Alex Mercer's body. It was its first body and it probably still believes it's him, and if not it probably just takes comfort in using that body. Before Alex died he wore a Hood with a leather jacket." Steve's words also got himself thinking. What purpose would Zeus have to use Alex Mercer's body if it knew it wasn't really him? Did the thing develop human emotions? Did it identify as Alex Mercer?

"Alright now go quick before he runs off, we're sending you in on these new prototype jeeps they should be pretty fast. If he resists mention Dana Mercer, she was Alex's sister, we're not sure if this'll annoy him if he knows he's not the real mercer though. So be careful."

Picking himself up from the rubble Alex could feel that there was something coming for him. Ever since he obtained the hive mind, he could sense things around the city and whether they were headed for him. Whatever it was, he could feel his body aching him to stay put. Maybe this was something important, who knows.

Alex moved down a bit past the debris to another street, and down the sidewalk. He kept on walking until he crossed the street and met a new sidewalk. Wondering if something was following him again he used his thermal vision to check around. Again there were more Viral detectors! 'Whoa? The hive mind… It's…' Alex Mercer let his hand come to his head, he could feel a massive headache for some reason the hive mind didn't want him to attack the viral detectors. Not wanting to endure this pain for much longer Alex shut that part of his mind off. He would might as well stay put.

After several minutes of standing still he was getting bored. Closing his eyes, his mind flashes through the multiple memories he obtained. Searching through them Alex did this until he got bored of that too. He was beginning to lose hope until he looked down the street witnessing four tanks come from every direction. Instantly he could tell they were drones, the military probably assumed letting humans pilot the tanks was too risky now. The tanks lit up, Alex was now in a pool of light and was almost blinded.

Hearing the thwooping of helicopters he looked up, and used his thermal vision. Again there were 4 vehicles but instead of tank they were attack helicopters carrying no one inside. Was this a cheap attempt at killing him? The vehicles made no move so he stood still wanting them to make their turn. He wasn't really in the mood for explosions right now. Out of nowhere a jeep drove in and four Blackwatch soldiers got up.

"Who the hell are you guys?" Looking at the four troops he could tell that they were powerful like those giant towering Blackwatch troops, yet they appeared to be normal humans. Maybe blackwatch improved they're human engineering. Looking to the left Alex noticed that one of them was female, he's killed hundreds of people and the only female he had ever killed who wasn't infected was Karen Parker.

"Alex Mercer?" Sarah asked holding her assault rifle tightly, and preparing to swing her Taser blade if he tried anything. Looking him up and down he fit the description. His clothing looked gritty and tough but his eyes looked beautiful and his face looked really handsome. Honestly she couldn't recall meeting someone so handsome after the virus outbreak. His jawline and lips were catching her attention now. 'STOP this is a dangerous criminal! He could kill you in an instant, be professional!' Still she was tempted to eye him down some more but let her eyes fall on his.

"You're the one who realized the virus right?" Mercer eyed them down carefully all of them were wearing tactical gear, but their heads were exposed. They must have been elite members.

"I didn't, kind of…" Not sure what was going on Mercer stood still. This was the first time any Blackwatch trooper wanted to speak with him up close. It was nerve wracking to say the least.

"We want you to come with us" Sarah continued. Alex Noticed her hair was dark brown like his, and liked the fact that her hair was short.

"If I refuse?"

"We'll kill your sister Dana Mercer." Myers said with a serious voice. The sound of his sister's voice coming out of this fuck face's mouth pissed him off. His brows joined together and the four squad troops took a step back. Alex let out a grunt and his arms began to transform. The squad watched in horror as tendrils swarmed around his arms, and the leather transformed in to blackness. Within a short five seconds his arms transformed into claws.

"You hurt my sister and I will rip you apart!" Sarah was tensing up, if he survived a nuke their tiny weapons weren't going to do shit. 'God damn't Myers!'

"Wait! Wait! We don't want to hurt anyone! Just please come with us! No one has to get hurt!" Sarah said. Even though she had her gun in her hands she held both hands up to calm Mercer to not slice them to bits. Alex really didn't want anymore blood on his hands, standing there he looked all of them in the eyes.

"What do you people want this time? Every minute you idiots try to kill me."

"We just wanted to make a deal with you to stop all of this!" Carol spoke. Alex stood up straight returning to his normal stance from his combat stance and morphed his arms back to normal. Sarah was still looking at his arms as the tendrils seeped back inside. 'How's that even possible?'

"Alex please, we don't want any more violence."

"Alright fine… Just don't mention my sister this time asshole!" Alex pointed his finger in the direction of Myers.

"Sorry man, they said to mention her if you resisted so I ju-" Alex stepped forward and picked the man off the ground and held up in the air by his neck.

"Ack what the hell man I was-"

"I don't give a damn… Don't mention my sister next time." Alex lightly threw him to the side like a ragdoll. The others stood and watched not wanting to intimidate Alex into doing anything rash. Walking to the jeep Sam stopped him.

"Hey there's only four seats man I think we need to get-"

"No, just leave this dumbass here. Otherwise no deal." Alex said looking to the side at a coughing Myers who was on all fours grasping for breathe.

Alex hopped into the wheel seat and waited for the others to join him.

"That was my seat but ok." Carol said. Usually he liked to be the dominant one but unfortunately Alex was someone who you couldn't fuck with.

The jeep began to move and the car zoomed past the cold streets.

"They say you survived a nuke is this true?" Sam asked not sure of whether or not it really was the case.

Alex didn't feel like talking much so he kept silent, ignoring the question completely. This vehicle he found himself in was going at a deadly speed, the thing seemed to be going faster than any helicopter he ever piloted so far. Currently Alex still felt dead inside, could he even relate himself to anything dead? His mind raced back and forth with no clear pattern as the jeep sped on. His own personal hell was unfolding within his own mind.

It's not certain whether he will choose to continue lying to himself that he's Alex Mercer. But one thing's for sure, he's not done yet. He has Alex's sister to look after. Holding onto these last pieces of purpose Alex knew he couldn't give up yet. As he was thinking of this he wondered if the original Alex Mercer was in hell or not, truly something he didn't want to think about.

"You can't just be a loner you know." Sarah jabs at him, the very sentence splinters under his skin.

"Why should you care?" Alex barks while looking off to the side.

"We're just trying to be nice, you should be a bit more thankful. Way I see it, you're the one responsible for this mess." Carl says disregarding the fact that Alex could kill him at any moment.

"I am now." Not understanding his words the group sat still looking at the back of Mercer's head.

"No more hostility guys. I'm just glad you're complying peacefully Zeus." Sarah says while putting her hand on Alex's shoulder. The sensation of someone touching him caused him to jump in his seat, and Sarah pulled her hand back not wanting to upset him further. Initially he thought of her as annoying, a thorn in his side. But he had actually longed for such Human interaction being that the only human interaction he received these past months revolved around killing people, commanding people, or talking to someone about their next move.

"Yeah I… I agree but don't expect me to just kneel before Blackwatch, if this deal is crap I'm not going to bother accepting it."

"Fine by me, but you should remember that we won't give you another chance like this." Sam said while looking behind him to see if anything was tailing them.

"If you don't mind me asking… Why do you have so many collars? Like you have a button down shirt, a hood, and then a leather jacket." Alex Mercer looked down, staring at his clothes.

"I didn't have time to pick a right outfit. I was a head researcher of Project Black light, and the people involved on the project were being systematically murdered. I had to get my shit together fast before I was offed." Everyone in the car lost their fear of the man, and instead grew curious.

"Wait so you were also responsible for not only releasing the virus, but creating it?" Sam had underestimated Alex, at first sight he looked like some punk who liked leather too much. Somehow he was proven wrong with a single sentence.

"Partially. The first virus ever used was tested on random civilians in Hope Idaho. I myself only experimented on it further, but the people working on the project were being gun downed. I grabbed one the vials containing Black light and ran into the streets hoping that'd give me leverage. I was wrong…"

"How do you know all of that about Hope Idaho, that's classified information?" Wanting to put an end to their suspicions Carol asked the question that was on Sarah's and Sam's mind.

"Every person I 'consume' gives me their memories and abilities. I had to kill a lot of people of interest, and after consuming one or two marines, I had the search and destroy knowledge to find and hunt down the other men of interest. Getting into military bases became as easy as brushing my teeth after a few days." Sarah let her head load what she just heard. This man literally was killing people and draining them of their memories. She could only imagine what that'd look like to see someone ripped apart, and see them get absorbed like a damn happy meal.

"That confirms a lot of our theories on you. You said getting into military bases was easy, so I assume you could shapeshift too?" Alex sat in his seat and knew just exactly how to answer his question. Focusing now, he forced his body to shift into a BlackWatch troop. The skin around his quickly morphed, tendrils squirmed in and out swirling around him as he suddenly appeared in a militaristic disguise.

"HOLY SHIT" Carl screamed caught off guard. The other two members of the squad held their mouths open wide. Changing back to his original form he smirked at the reactions given.

"What?"

"You had to kill that guy in order to get his body? You're a monster if you don't feel remorse man."

"I know I'm a monster!" Mercer screamed gripping the jeeps door in fustration causing the metal to slightly cave in.

"I did what I had to do to survive, and save New York. I have the blood of Millions of New Yorker's on my hands, but that wouldn't be possible without Gentek and Black Watch. You people were the real ones responsible for this." Sam decided that he had enough of this guy and his antics. Sticking up for his friend Carol he spoke.

"You're the one who released the virus!"

"I didn't release shit! I'm not the real Alex J. Mercer, this body's just another disguise like all the others." His throat was sore now but he spoke more anyway not caring. The pain in his voice could be detected by the three in the car.

"I was the Black Light Virus, the real Alex Mercer is dead! Do you know how it feels knowing your birth caused the death of millions." The three members stood quiet. They were briefed that his origin may have very well been that, but they expected him to reveal this later on with evil in his voice. Instead his voice was a mix of several emotions combining into a dreadful speech.

"The original virus wasn't made to cure cancer, help solve world issues NO! Do you know how it feels knowing your whole existence, no purpose was intended for killing! The original Virus was made to target people of minority." At first they all pegged him for some scumbag who was shady, then they misjudged him as some evil sentient virus that wanted to take control of the world, but now it was clear what he truly was.

To Carol he seemed weak and pathetic, Sam was picturing him as the shell of a man with the world on his shoulders. Myers would have actually apologized if he were the seat with them, but Sarah was letting her head go blank listening.

"I know I'm partially responsible, but not all the blame goes on me." Alex choked.

"Well in the end you helped. You weren't responsible at all if you're not the original Alex. You saved the city from turning into a wasteland, and you helped save it from being nuked. You're a hero." Sarah calmed, instead Alex snapped and bashed the door braking it off not knowing his own strength

"IM NO FUCKING HERO! I killed men with families! Soldiers fighting for something they didn't believe in, guys who had kids at home!"

"Everybody calm the fuck down! Just take a minute." Carol interrupted. Things went well, but they'd probably end up getting scolded for the jeep being partially damaged. Fucking grade A…. Sam figured turning the radio on would help ease things.

"I think some tunes would do us some good." Sam suggested from the back, raising his voice so he could be heard. Sarah analyzed the cars buttons until her pupils were held hostage by two knobs. Hopefully fiddling with them for long enough would get her somewhere… Nope!

"I need some help with this guys, the position of the radio is unknown and I'm taking heavy fire!" Sarah joked. Alex looked over at the knobs, feeling regret over his little outburst he turned the radio on.

"Put something good on" Carol commanded, he preferred 80's type music so in hopes of not having some garbage blasting he spoke again.

"Go to station 40.47" Carol added. Alex dialed the knob the right, and did the same to the left and the radio screeched for a few seconds before music started to play.

"9/11 was just a misconception, *guitar tune*" The radio hummed. Everyone in the jeep sat up, mercer knit his brow in confusion. 'What?'

"George W bush is a damn lizard so, punch that faggot right in the gizzard!" the song echoed. 'What kind of song is this?!' Mercer tried shutting the damn thing off but the song continued.

"Oh yea take a sip of mountain dew! But if you're JEW, fuck you!" The song ended there and left everyone in silence.

"I think we should turn the radio off to save our ears." Sarah chimed, throwing her fingers at the on/off switch she didn't notice before. Alex looked over his shoulder to speak to Carol.

"You like that kind of music, no wonder you work for Black Watch." He taunted with a joking tone. The car was reaching its destination and Mercer could tell.

"Pipe down grim reaper." Carl bested, maybe they could warm up to him. There have been far worse people they've met in comparison, he was still a threat, but who knows maybe he wasn't so bad. The jeep bolted down the road, the sides were nothing more than a fast blur to them. Soon they'd be down at headquarters sipping on hot cocoa, negotiating with the man sitting before them. Life was good.

-Beep-

"Huh?" Carl worried looking down at the radar, there was a red dot in front of them and they were approaching it fast. The sudden rush of panic consumed the three remaining members of the squad.

"Get your guns ready, if we're lucky it'll be a common infected." Sarah soothed, "and besides we're trained to deal with hunters and other stuff like that." Reassuring them that things were gonna be ok was her main concern. Foolish on her part, she knew that they were going to go through hell with Myers not by their side as they were a team of four not three.

Alex had learned a long time ago that letting fear grip your body was futile. Whatever was ahead of them, he'd be able to take it. Getting visions of his previous fight, he began to get amped up. The world was trying to kill him again for the second time he concluded looking down at the radar. The GPS guiding system was heading towards the red dot and according the meter the infected levels were off the charts.

"Whatever this thing is, it's got a huge infected level. I'm hit the meter to check up on it." Sarah announced, "Ummm guys this is a problem…" Looking at the meter the thing had a higher infected level than a supreme hunter. There was no time for talking as the car unexpectedly stopped in mid place. If it weren't for their seat belts they'd be dead instantly except for Alex of course.

"You idiots stay here, I'm gonna check it out." Mercer ripped the belt apart and leaped out of the car. Their jeep had stopped right in front of a building meaning the threat would be right above this small apartment building, well that's what he thought. Landing on top of the building he thought that the dot may have been inside but out of nowhere a voice called out to him.

"So we finally meet eachother at last Mercer…." A voice rung out. The strong coldness of the voice pierced into Alex's senses warning him that the man before him was a foe. "Sounds nice but, who exactly am I meeting right now?" Mercer beckoned his hand upside down in a questioning point towards the man standing a few feet away from him. He wore dark grey cargo pants, and black puffy vest, but oddly enough he wore a white hood that made him stand out from the dark sky in the background.

"You know me, but the question is how much." Alex Mercer knew that there were only 3 infected beings he had ever come to think of. One being himself. The other two were Elizabeth Greene and Cross. Both of which tried to kill him. Whoever this guy was he was infected for sure. Come on Alex think! According to the people he consumed to add to the web of intrigue a runner was someone who was infected but alert and sentient… According to them Alex Mercer was the first male runner. Of course that was wrong since he was actually dead and the virus was using his body for a host.

That only pointed Alex in one direction. After consuming so many people he knew that he wasn't the first male runner, since he was actually sentient, and after consuming more he found out who the real first runner was…

"Pariah…." The words dripped out of his voice like melting ice water. "So what's this about you plan on consuming me or something?" His memories pointed him to a marine he had consumed 'Something real… Bad would happen if these two were to meet'. Every single memory he had concerning Pariah was centering on something sick and twisted. Alex knew he was a freak but Pariah was BORN human, yet he seemed loonier than he did in some of the memories Alex had of him. 'Green was an imperfect release of non-coding regions of the genome. And Alex Mercer was something more. What if Pariah was a perfect realization of all the non-coding regions in the genome? It may be the final purpose of all life on earth.'

"What do you want with me? You gonna try and consume me?" Mercer scowled as he got himself ready in a combat stance. The world was a cruel place, let your guard down for a second, and you'll die faster than you can blink.

"Don't get yourself flattered, I'm not going to consume you… Not yet that is." Pariah shouted while looking to the side enjoying the view of the sky. For someone who gave such a sinister smile, he sure seems to be calm right now oddly enough. Pariah gave Mercer an assertive gesture pointing at the city, thanks to consuming so many people he'd learn that this was a military hand gesture used to signify control and dominance.

"The city may be reverting back, but as far as I see it. There's still the two of us." Mercer looked down, but not far enough to let his guard down. Alex was immortal and he knew it as painful as it was, and over time fighting the infected would get old but he'd had to do it anyway.

"We'll meet again, that may be next month, or the month after that, or next year, or the year after that, or the next decade, ah well you get the point. You and I have an eternity to get thing done."

Finishing his sentence, Pariah took a bow, and then leapt off. Moving quickly into the distance until he was gone. This time he let his head fall to floor, balling his fists. Whatever it was that Pariah was planning it wouldn't be something that wouldn't earn him the complete hate of Alex Mercer. It doesn't matter that Alex and him are both infected. It didn't matter that both of them were made by greed, for greed. It didn't matter that both of them had rough child hoods.

What mattered was that Alex would be ready for Pariah when he would initiate his plans, and that he'd be ready to kill him within a moment's notice like he was nothing.


	3. Chapter 3: Hope and Nightmares

John looked outside the view glass, pointing down at the entrance. They'd be entering the facility any second, right about now. His heart was calm, learning to deal with defeat was second nature in this place. Don't get the wrong idea, a piece of him would die as a person if he heard of the squads dismemberment. In situations like this it was best to keep your head up high and just act like you weren't phased. That's what got him the trust of most of the higher ups, his only form of solitude was hoping the best of luck was upon them. They would need it for a 'tough sun of a bitch' like Zeus.

The target they were assigned to obtain was no candy ass. This could go both ways, Alex Mercer was an unstable, scientist who went rogue. No matter which Alex was inside harboring that body the chances of him complying were slim. THERE WAS NO OTHER OPTION, they had to take this risk because all their other plans weren't rewarding enough! This wasn't about stopping a terrorist, this wasn't about saving America and its freedom. Truth be told this was about saving the world! If anyone on the good side messed up, everything that humanity ever lived for would be destroyed in the blink of an eye.

"Do you think that Alex Mercer was obtained?" John ended the silence, he needed some composure, and Steve was the only other man in the conference room. Steve looked up at John, sighing not sure if things would go back to the way they used to between them. Ignoring John would lead to more scornful arguments in the future, and Steve just wanted to be bust buds like they use to back in the academy.

"Honestly I'm worried, but I think they were able to talk some sense into him." Sitting down in his chair was getting anti-climactic. Solving this problem he rose meeting the same height as John. Both men could have claimed to be brothers despite the fact that John was bald. They made such good friends back then, and their work dynamics was amazing too!

Work years before the virus was very different centering on good cop, bad cop. Surely John was the bad cop with his intimating bald head, and unfriendly demeanor. He enjoyed improvising speedy threats on the spot. Which surprisingly worked for the most part when it came to interrogating criminal scum. On the flipside Steve was the understanding one who would give comfort, and or show them the Brightside of complying. There bonding friendship was unstoppable, and that's what got them to the high position they were at today. Even now at times like this it was still somehow tied together by a loose thread.

Their job was to interrogate bio terrorists, and other criminals of that nature ever since the virus. Black Watch had even trusted them with some of the top classified information they had. Steve knew this career path was worth it, the pay was amazing and the fact that they were finally reaching a climax by obtaining the man somewhat responsible for all this was proof that they had purpose in life. Even the doubting and pessimistic John would be enlightened to finally get the REAL answers to all of this.

"This is what we've been waiting for John." Steve assured, John smiled and commented back "Well I guess you're right. No more over time, after this gig we could both retire and see our families again with enough money to support three generations of family." The virus was not only an evil thing that took lives, but it was a devilish entity that shattered lives too. Ending once beautiful friendships, stealing the idea of hope away, persuading the people of New York that life never gets better. John was never one to get his hopes up, but this was something to be proud of it actually did turn out in their favor.

"Maybe after all this passes we could finally get back to our lives. This damn job takes too much time out of our lives." Steve complained, walking over to the glass he paused. Standing outside the window was exactly what he wanted to see. Was it even possible for them to have successfully accomplished their mission? It was like scratching a lottery ticket, discovering that you won about a million dollars. Realistically this was no million dollars, this was bigger than any amount of money in the world!

Sam kept his distance from Mercer and the others, staying back so that he could observe the pair. It was kind of impressive what a single Virus could do. If only it was used right, Sam didn't really know what side was right and what side was wrong. Everyone had blood their hides despite what the politician's would want people to believe.

The military base was foreboding but vacant at the moment. Black Watch was being disbanded this week due to the lack of infection rates. Alex Mercer kept his eyes to himself, he had never entered a military base in his real form without the intent on killing someone before. There were definitely eyes on him now, but looking to his left every now and then he could tell that the place was pretty much empty.

"So… Who did you guys want me speaking with?" Mercer suspiciously asked, not afraid to raise his voice. "You'll see, and stop acting so untrusting, we should be feeling that with you here knowing what you could do" Sam replied. That hurt Alex but he knew the man was telling the truth. Being mad at him wouldn't solve anything. Out of the blue Myers popped out from behind a parked tank and hurried his way over to the group. The sight of the arrogant smiling glob of spit was enough to make Alex bite his tongue. Seeing the pure discontent portray on his face, Sarah decided to speak first to avoid having Myers piss Alex off.

"Myers? Didn't we leave your sorry ass in the middle of the road to die? How in the hell did you get back here so fast?" Sarah joked. "You know me, I have my ways" Myers answered with a hint of humor. The whole group laughed in unison, except for yours truly. Alex would need to remember that for later. There was no possible way he could have made it over here that fast without assistance. Then again they did have to take a detour because Pariah decided to show up to challenge Alex. He could have very well gotten a helicopter to pick him up because of how far Pariah set them off course. Whatever it was, it was still shady nonetheless Mercer concluded.

Thank god Sarah stepped in to prevent the smirking punk from starting a conversation with him, he could see from the corner of his eye that she was taking tiny peeks at him while speaking aloud. Whether she did it for the sake of the mission or for him was unsure to Alex. For a Black Watch lapdog she was nice he had to give her that. Could it be possible for Mercer to ever have another relationship ever again? No, Pariah needed to be stopped first. Caring about others like Dana was enough trouble, right now he didn't need another liability to be added to his ninety nine problems. It would be a long time before he would enter the game again, and it was nice to see that there were still nice fish to catch in the sea.

"Alright we should head to the conference room before we get fired." Sarah emphasized 'fire' as they were always threatened with the concept of being fired like they were nothing. Hell they'd be crazy to fire them after saving their asses like this! The virus was practically dying out, humans were winning, and the only 'threat' to national security/humanity was Alex. To which they were able to successfully subdue. 'If they even dare, I'm going to...'

"You lead the way Blondie." The leather jacket wearing crusader commented, breaking Sarah from her train of thought. Sarah stopped in her place and turned around to give Alex the 'Are you kidding me look?' Displeased with his comment she scoffed changing her pace to a much slower one. She'd have to get him back for that.

"At least I don't wear hoodies in doors." Sarah quipped looking over to take amusement at Alex. To her surprise he was quite calm, taking off his hoodie she could see his charming short dark brown hair. Now she was thankful he called her a 'blondie' because that led to her getting a good look at him without his hood. If only she wasn't on the job right now, and if only the others weren't right next to her.

"You happy now?" Alex ran his hands through his black hair and spoke again "Enough wasting time, bring me to your commanding leaders."

John sat back down, eventually Steve followed in his example. Looking at the door creak open the two watched as the squad poured in. The group greeted John and Steve with nervous grins. Alex stepped inside the room right after. Steve knew that Alex was intimidating but he'd have to talk with him first. The whole point of inviting Alex Mercer was to find peace in this damned war, but first he'd have to ask a few questions. His job was to find out whatever he could on Zeus.

"Greetings Dr. Alex J. Mercer take a seat." The group stood patiently, there was no reason to leave being that they weren't dismissed. "You four could stay here, just no interrupting, that goes for YOU especially Myers."

Steve reached under the table and clicked the audio recorder that was planted there for meetings like this. This was a rarity to get a confession like this, since most information was pried from subjects in the lower levels in the interrogation room. However Alex Mercer was no low class crook. Judging just by his stance, and knowing his history this man could be a very calculating sun of bitch, getting on his bad side would fuck things up immensely.

"First off don't address me as Doctor anymore." Steve was worried for a slight second that this would go bottoms up until Alex finally took a seat after stating his demands. The first question was easy to find, but asking it and getting the answer could be different. Myers was getting tired of standing so he sat down at the table, it was a pretty huge table with ten seats on each side so it wouldn't distract anyone. The others soon followed.

"So um… Alex, I'm going to ask you a few question that may seem weird to ask, or difficult to answer is that ok with you?" Carl was interested to see how Steve and John actually worked, never once was the group allowed to stay during interrogations. Their attendance at this one probably meant that they had finally gained their trust after so long! Sam on the other hand was curious as to what they would ask being that this was a peace meeting not a game of 20 questions. To the side Sarah was eying Alex down through the corner of her eye, something about him was appealing to her but what it was she didn't know. Her mind would have been in love with him if he wasn't on America's most wanted list as number one.

Alex cupped his chin while staring at the ground, an unpleasant silence filled the room before he looked up and answered. "I guess as long as you don't say anything to piss me off." It was clear that Alex didn't want his position in the room to be submissive, it wasn't Black Watch giving him the chance to surrender. It was him giving Black Watch the chance to not provoke him into killing them all.

"Of course not Alex, first question… Are you sure you're the real Alex Mercer." Instantly the answer popped in Alex's head, but this was something hard to explain. Even then explaining it to these people first instead of Dana felt kind of wrong but it would have to be done.

"No, I'm not the real Alex Mercer, this body is just a host." Steve knew it, but he couldn't end that topic there. He'd have to push further if he wanted something good. The only person in the room to notice Alex tensing up was Sarah, why couldn't this wait for later after the peace agreement? 'Alex is a tough guy he can handle the questions' she assured herself. Mercer indeed was tough but bottling things up never got anyone far.

"Ok, so what exactly do you identify as? Does this persona mean anything to you?" Steve was getting close to the real answers, and having them right here sitting across from him was glorious. It was the epitome of all his hard work up to this point.

"I like to think of myself as Alex Mercer…" Alex said while looking down twiddling his thumbs on the table. "After Alex Mercer's death at Penn station, I went inside his body and awoke in the morgue. I had no idea who I was, I consumed a Troop lending me info as to who Alex Mercer was to which led me to believe that I was Alex when I wasn't…"

"I have all his memories… From growing up with my sister, finding the first girl I liked, sharing my first kiss, and all the way over in the future to Penn station. Alex Mercer was responsible for half of this, but even though I wasn't the real Alex I still felt guilty and the need to fix all this." His answer made sense, but the word 'consume' in the context he gave probably confirmed one of their suspicions from previous research on him. This was going swimmingly well, just a few more questions and they could reach peace.

"Just a few more questions Alex, I know it must be hard to answer some of this stuff but we need the information. When you consume… Someone what do you get in return for doing this?" Everyone in the room turned to face Alex who was quiet again. Myers knew straight off the bat that the answer wouldn't be pretty and so did the rest. Unlike the others Sarah was concerned for Alex's wellbeing, wanting to tell Steve to just stop with the questions. But she knew that would be amazingly dull-witted. For now she'd have to put up with the uncomfortableness.

"Basically, once I consume prey, I take their memories, and their bodies can be used as disguises for me to use to infiltrate bases. Only a few Black Watch members were aware of this ability of mine" John stood and walked out seeing that he was getting a call from one of his young daughters. "Consuming also has healing capabilities as well for the record." Mercer finished, looking Steve in the eye now. The questions were becoming rampantly repetitive, and the prototype's feelings of discontent were growing obvious to some of the others with bored sigh.

"That sounds pretty cool man." Said Myers after hearing the sigh trying to make up for his earlier mistake and hoping to cheer Alex up. Smiling at him Sarah secretly applauded Myers for his kind gesture.

"I thought we told you to shut your face" John said stepping back into the room. "Get up, I'm gonna have to find someone downstairs to baby sit your punk ass!" Smirking his infamous smile while John escorted him out everyone tried holding in their laughter, even Alex was smiling. Come to think of it Alex never really smiled, but when the chance arose he wasn't ashamed to show it.

"Ok, now that the clown is out of the room. What are the things you're capable of, and do you still need to do daily human activities?" Well this was an easier one, Alex relaxed in his chair and thought for a second. These questions were important and answering them on the spot was just plain idiotic, sloppy at best.

"I have super human strength, agility, mobility, durability, I can shapeshift, and regenerate. Thanks to my career path I had a high IQ, but thanks to consuming I could say that I'm at a form of intelligence higher than everyone in this room combined. Umm, I don't really have to eat any food. One of my personal favorites is that I don't need any sleep." Alex single handedly confirmed almost all of Gentek's and Black watch's suspicions. There was only one question left, time was of the essence. Eager to get this over and done with Steve adjusted himself in his leather chair before speaking.

"Ok this is the LAST question. How do your clothes change? How is it that your body can change fabric so quick?" Asked Steve with eyes that told the story of a little child awaiting an answer from an elder. At least this last question was quick, any second longer and someone would have had to die.

"Oh, uh this isn't fabric. Actually it's bio mass, it can mimic any fabric out there. " Mercer corrected, Steve nodded his head enthusiastically. Having information like this was just perfect, not even a hundred blow jobs could beat this in his book. Sarah threw hair out of her face, the questions were over and done with so she figured it was time to intervene.

"Permission to speak sir?" Sarah begged, Steve looked at her and replied. "Of course, go right ahead." Slipping his hand under the table, he turned off the audio recorder.

"As for the others, you're dismissed." Carl got up with Sam tailing behind him. "Common lets go save Myers before he gets shot by John." Getting out of her seat, she approached closer to the other two. Alex confused with the sudden change of environment kept silent, awkward moments weren't his forte.

"After all of this maybe we could use Alex to our advantage." He couldn't believe it, would that even be allowed? "I mean we're already on peaceful terms with him now." Sarah added, Alex couldn't believe the amount of trust she had in him! What pills were they feeding this girl!

"There's peace between us but there's still other infected out there…" Alex said lifting his emotionless eyes to Steve's. The glimmer of hope that Steve saw in Alex's eyes were gone now, all he saw in the other man's eyes was a story with no true happy ending. Steve coughed on his spit for a second. 'What the fuck?'

"What do you mean other infected!?" Steve shouted, this could ruin everything. Alex folded his leg over the other. This could take a while, might as well get comfortable. The world never loved Alex, not even his mother loved him, there was no way in hell it would change now. Listening in on the extremely shocking news Sarah averted her eyes rethinking the future. 'More infected? When will this ever end! How many people have to die? Please god don't let any more people get hurt'.

"There's more infected like me out there, ever head of a runner?" Steve regained his composure and looked Alex straight in the face clearing his throat. "Yes… Yeah I get it. How many do you figure are still out there? We need to have the infection eradicated."

"Listen to yourself, there's no such thing as that anymore! After all this time of Black Watch fighting the virus do you really think they didn't bother to collect any infected DNA material/samples? I wouldn't be surprised if they were selling the Black Light virus on store shelves." Alex knew that there was no possible way of getting rid of the Virus, it was like a new species entirely. It wasn't new York that changed, it was humanity that changed.

"Mother fucker!" Steve roared smashing his hands into the table. His rage wasn't well aimed, generally he had nowhere to point it to. Humanity was responsible for all of this, there wasn't a single person to blame. Sarah jumped at the sudden slam into the table, Steve never showed aggression but this was something big. It made her wonder if peace was something that was even possible at this point.

"If he makes a move it's going to be against me first, I'm the only thing that stands in the way of whatever he's planning so he probably considers me a threat. Look, the fact of the matter is that he's out there and ever since the virus broke loose it could have spread to other parts of the world now as well since we all know Black Watch doesn't have the heart to not sell the virus, and if the virus is out there. There's bound to be more runners. Hell the virus was travelling underground, it could have went overseas if it wanted."

Pariah sat in his helicopter, his pilot knew not to 'fuck' with him while he prepped. His military ties were impeccable. The only thing that was true in this world was getting what you wanted, where ever you wanted, whenever the hell you wanted it. His vision of the future held him at the top of the pyramid. Alex Mercer was a fool to reject Elizabeth Greene and her offer! That's why she came to him, and that's why she was sitting beside him. Occupying him on his personal vendetta.

"You seem to carry yourself nicely" Elizabeth commented with a touch of exaggeration.

"Better than you have, you almost got yourself killed. If my memory serves correctly you got consumed by Alex, how are you still alive? Why didn't you just tell him the true objective" His threatening tone masking the curiosity in his voice, he was the real alpha male. Nothing was going to get in his way for power, not self-righteous morals, and not Mercer. Everything involved being number one, and he certainly showed that through sneers.

"For your information, just because Alex consumed me doesn't mean that the virus couldn't have just remade my body. My genetic information was saved to the hive mind." Elizabeth replied to the shirtless Pariah in front of her.

"Well aren't you lucky… Didn't answer the question though." Pariah growled, his patience was never one to trifle with. Elizabeth acknowledged the impatience and curtly replied.

"My mind was still recovering at the time, if I was in the right state of mind I could have explained to him the full extent of my offer. I don't even think he knew there was an offer in the first place. By the way I'm strictly neutral between you two until you finish one another." 'This bitch thinks I'd share power? I'll have a good smile when she's choking on her blood again'.

Elizabeth Greene was like some sort of dark queen to the infected, Alex would have been her king. Things didn't go as planned, now the sides were becoming unclear. If he did what was expected, the two would have watched over the new infected earth watching as humanity progressed. Women would be in high amounts being that the virus rarely worked in males, and the males left would be the best of the best. In a world like that it would be survival of the fittest. Pariah was fit for sure, it was apparent through his bulging biceps and red war paint that was sprawled on his face and chest.

"I answered your question, so could you answer mine? Why do you go shirtless on your 'missions' ?" Pariah was only wearing black combat boots, combined with black cargo pants. He only wore his hoodie and vest when he wasn't on missions.

"I like to intimidate the enemy before I take their lives. It also lets them know that I'm the alpha and they're the weak beta. The hood and vest are to blend in the urban surroundings" Elizabeth smiled at this, how could she not? He would fit right in the new dog eat dog world. Alex Mercer had similar muscles, but Pariah's were just a bit bigger. Was she spiteful that Alex killed her, in a way yes but having him at her side would be nice too. There was something charming about him that Pariah didn't have. Maybe it was his rejection that was appealing, or the wild personality he had.

"I'm getting bored of waiting you know? How many more runners are you recruiting?"

"As many as I want, you got a problem with that? I could solve it right now." Pariah ruthlessly hissed flexing in anger. His cold killing machine eyes met hers and Elizabeth would have given a small yelp if it wasn't for the fact that she was biting on her tongue to hide any nervous movements. She was supposed to be the intimidating one! Pariah wasn't even against her, or trying to sound threatening at all but he still came off that way. Everyone in his life somehow got treated like slime regardless of whether he liked or disliked them.

"Hey! Don't talk to me like that! I'm being nice and giving you-"Pariah jumped over to her and put his hand over to her mouth squeezing hard but not hard enough to cause pain.

"Shut the hell up, I'm being nice by not killing you and just consuming what's left."

(Pariah was originally Elizabeth Greene's son in prototype 1 but in this version he's not related in anyway)

Elizabeth took solace in how close his chest was to hers but she couldn't let him treat her like this! Pushing him off her, the expression on her face was enough to let Pariah know that if he did that again there'd be hell. Pariah was first found inside a random pregnant women that Gentek experimented on, they were trying to find a way to develop male runners, males that could carry the virus. Injecting Elizabeth's Dna into fetus of the pregnant lady Pariah grew strong, his age continued until he was twenty five ending there. The doctors had no idea why, but some of the cruder ones figured that the virus wanted his body to stay at its peak. For some odd reason the virus gave immortality as soon as it find its way into the host, yet Pariah was able to age all the way to twenty five.

"You should be grateful that my Dna led to your creation, without me you would have grew up weak." Elizabeth wasn't about to take this crap standing up with her hands firmly at her sides. Pariah stood, walked closely towards Elizabeth while raising his hand to smack the life from her face. The hand swiftly smacked against her cheek. A loan whimper escaped her lips, Pariah smiled at the apparent pain.

The red haired 'queen' was on her knees now holding her hand to her cheek. 'Why would he do this to me after all I've done for him?' Tears were trying to escape her eyes but she didn't let any fall. The pain in her face was still there, but she slowly got up to take a seat. Alex Mercer had sliced and diced through her, impaled her, thrown cars at her, consumed her. But at least he had a decent reason for harming her.

"If you were a man I would have broken all the bones in your body, consider yourself lucky that you're only a woman trying to establish dominance over me that doesn't exist." He towered above her with his tall frame. Of course she could try and fight him but chances were that he was probably stronger than her and Mercer combined. Even then Elizabeth didn't want him to reject her the same way Alex did.

Pariah looked down into her fuzzy eyes smiling further at the dominance he held over her. Elizabeth knew what she was getting herself into my contacting Pariah, there were only two male runners out there. Both of them ended up hurting her in some way or another. Originally she had planned on contacting Alex Mercer later down the line after he was attacked by Pariah, but this changed her mind. She was going to have to warn Alex. Time was something she could handle, Pariah had told her that he'd be going for Mercer in a year or so for the first attack. In the meantime she would have to act unaffected by his cruel act or else she'd be forced to fight him into rejecting her but with more severe consequences compared to Alex's rejection.

"… How do you plan on hurting Alex? I don't think just killing him would be much of an example to the other runners." She had made it seem like she was more on Pariah's side but secretly she still saw a future commanding infected forces with Alex by her side. Pariah was only the backup plan if she was turned down for a second time.

"I'm going to make him watch as new York fades away, and when he's done mourning the death of his sister that's when I'll kill him. It won't be an easy death either, I'm planning on dragging it on until he begs for death." Pariah was never one to make idle threats, even though Alex had killed her the idea of him and his sister dying made her feel sick for some reason. Now she'd have to warn him for sure after getting slapped by Pariah.

Perhaps later she could give Alex a subtle warning. Trying to contact him now would lead to Pariah catching her, she'd have to do it when Pariah's focus was elsewhere. Telling Pariah that she was 'strictly neutral for now' was horrifying enough. These past few weeks with him was hell. At first she predicted that she'd be having fun toying with him, but no it was the other way around. 'He hasn't rejected me so far…' Was all she could do to keep her dignity intact. Getting her real state of mind was a gift and curse in that she could communicate better, but she still retained her former human feelings.

The faint memory of the past still played in her head. She had kidnapped Mercer's sister, and when he came to rescue her she tackled him. All she wanted from there while looking down into his beautiful eyes was to kiss him, but he had stabbed her with a vaccine that relayed pain that she had never felt in her whole life. Shaking her head at the memory she internally cringed at the memory, if she had been in the right state of mind would he have decided to take her offer? The idea of seeking him out a second time and him saying no made her wince.

Yeah she was fifty years plus, but her body still looked young. She was very pretty, wasn't she? Elizabeth Greene could still recall how painful it was to feel Mercer's freezing cold blade arm tear through her rib cage into her heart, before having her skin ripped apart by consumption. 'He was doing what he thought was right don't blame him.' Her mind circled around the hoodie wearing avenger, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was just as cruel as Pariah by now.

"Now I'm leaving this building whether you like it or not! If the infected poses a threat to new York I'll handle it, otherwise leave me the fuck alone. I just want my life to go back to normal. If I'm still on your hit lists I'm going to be pissed, and I'm going to be coming for you" Alex announced with the same sociopathic tone that the original Alex Mercer used, the conversation they had spread out into an hour argument. Wanting to just leave, he did just that by putting his hood back on before stepping out. Turning her head Sarah watched as he exited the conference room. "That went well Steve, don't beat yourself over it. At least he'll be off or back for now" Soothed the Blond woman.

Walking out of the Black Watch base Alex walked straight onto the sidewalk. It felt good leaving a base without all the hassle of putting on a disguise, mimicking the movements of some dead guy. Where was he heading now? There was nowhere for him to go… His original expensive apartment building got blown up along with all his stuff, he didn't feel like hanging out with Dana until he had the balls to tell her the truth. Searching in the deepest parts of his mind Alex conjured a solution. 'Every person I ever consumed was bound to have a bank account… Holy shit, me and Dana are gonna be filthy rich!' His face turned into a smile but reminding himself of Dana he looked back down.

His mind morphed dangerously, even somehow more threatening than his physical powers. 'Such an idiot, you had a chance to talk with people today and you talked them down at the end of it…' Alex kept walking with his mind on the subject of self-hate until he felt something grasp at his palm.

"Get the hell off of …" Looking into Sarah's fearful eyes with his hand firmly wrapped around her neck, he gently put her back down. "Oh god, I'm so sorry I thought you were uh… I didn't realize it was you." Alex put his hand on her, hunching over to her stance he felt extremely guilty. 'This would have never happened if she just called out!'

"Wow *cough*, you have a nice grip." Her hands clasped around her neck. "I wanted to ask you if we could stay in touch. I get if you're like still busy and stuff like that." Alex returned to his normal stance, 'stay in touch'. What? Why? Never in his life had a girl approached him first for something like this. This crazy woman actually liked him!

"I get it if you're busy and have like, other stuff to do." Sarah finished, fearful that he was uninterested by the sudden silence and knit of his brow.

"OH it's fine! I just need some time to myself for now that's all. I'm not ready or interested in a relationship yet, and I wasn't prepared to find a girl interested in having one with me" Alex quickly said. Looking to the side while nodding Sarah screamed at herself within her own mind. 'Smooth moves. You scared him off Romeo.'

"You could give me your number for later though" Alex stated while innocently smiling at her. Shooting her face straight up with an excited smile, and new found hope. The lady placed her hands in her pockets, and then frantically searched her other pockets for her phone, she would have been able to save his number.

"You don't happen to have a piece of paper and pen on you by any chance?" Sarah asked with a disingenuous smile hiding her worry. Alex would have face palmed if it wasn't for the fact that he actually liked her.

"Look you could just tell me your number now, I have an amazing memory." That wasn't him being kind or over confident. His mind could bring up any memory at will.

"Ok, but pinky promise me you won't forget it. And if you do I'll have to beat you up." Sarah affirmed holding her pinky up. Entwining his pinky with her delicate one he found joy in the warmth it had. She took equal comfort in the moment she was sharing with him. Looking up into his face through his hood she could tell that this wasn't a mistake by the sincere smile he was giving.

"I, Alex Mercer, Promise not you forget your number. Now just gimme it before I fly outta here without it."

After telling him her number, she watched as he turned. The scrunches of his leather jacket were apparent when he took a few steps forward. He was an odd one with odd clothes, and that's what added to the charm. Alex prepared for a jump, tendrils shrouded him before he jumped several feet into the air dashing forward with a trail of black and redness following him. Before meeting him she thought things were crazy but it was obvious that this way of life was the new normal. Whoever this Pariah guy was it meant business, not even Steve had information on him. Things of that level of classification was never kept in that much secret unless it was something real dangerous. And by real she figured dangerous enough to wipe out everything.

He was out of sight now, all it took was a few dashes for him to escape out of view. Rethinking about Pariah she knew she shouldn't have chalked it up to that much of a problem, Alex Mercer was ruthless. Proof of this was found in the past, he was only one man fighting the U.S military and uncovered the conspiracy they tried to hide from him. The only thing that seemed to bother him now was personal problems, but she doubted that be a relative problem. Not with her by his side!


	4. Chapter 4: Recovery after death

Alex's plan had worked well. Months had passed since he used all of his disguises to get him enough cash to buy an apartment. Of course he being the one to not let go of the past he invested on an apartment just like his old one in a similar type building. With the amount of green stacks he had, it would probably last him three separate life times. Luck was actually raining onto his soul.

His new apartment held a glorious view of Manhattan. It was the perfect balcony for him, anytime he wanted to be out on the run he could just do a front flip right off. The carpet on the inside was luxuriously spotless, and the small white sofa he owned complimented the black coffee table in front of it. Not in the mood to sit down, he walks over to his costly silver shining fridge. After close inspection he pulled out the left over ham sandwich he had forgotten to eat. It was time to train himself to eat again, he would need it for later.

Silly really, he had no use for such an item. Yet eating simplistic nutrients such as this tickled his fancy because it made him feel human again. Bringing the sandwich to his mouth he falters when friendly tentacles wriggle around his arm to consume the meal. 'Not this time guys' the useful tendrils would have to eat on their own time when Alex decided it, not when they did. Retracting his tendrils, he chows down on the poor sandwich. Eating 'normal' food was hard to get back to. At first his body would always assume he wanted to consume the stupid meals, but after weeks of concentration and self-focus his body was becoming accustomed to what he really wanted.

Leaving the kitchen with the intent of brushing his teeth he stops to get a look at mirror. The only reason he ever wore that stupid hood and leather jacket was because he was in a rush. Now he felt the need to return to his usual fashion of clothing, a dress shirt tangoed with a sweat shirt. The same kind of clothing he wore in that picture frame with Karen Parker by his side. Man he looked like an average doctor with this outfit on but he was anything but average. The memory of him looking at the picture frame of him and Karen right before his house exploded still played in his head. Karen didn't really have much of a choice when she was interrogated by the government. Still, he would have undergone waterboarding to protect her.

Things were getting better. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to speak with Dana but that could wait when he had an actual plan… After brushing his teeth he got in the shower and let the hot water ease his mind. He didn't need to shower but doing so made him feel good. To be exact there were two things left to do, but thinking about Pariah made him extremely paranoid about the outbreak happening all over again.

Oh boy this is what he needed it had been forever since he last felt his muscles relax under steamy water. Wishful thinking actually paid off. Throwing body wash on his arms and shoulders he prepares to turn off the shower. The water was screaming for him to stay, his body ached tempting him to spend another twenty minutes. This was true heaven but he knew he had things to take care of.

Stepping out of the shower he was surprised to find out that he could still feel the unforgiving cold that greeted one as they exited the shower. Even his arms were giving the sensation of Goosebumps. Standard bullets could hit him in the eye causing him to only wince and move on, but the cold after a shower was too much. 'I better watch out, the government could use this to their advantage to eliminate me' he said to himself shaking his head at the nonsensical idea of the government hacking into his shower to spray him down with ice cold water.

His eyes lit up fuming with caution, something was in his house. Whoever was in the apartment was most likely an unwelcome guest. There was no need to panic, getting his towel he dried himself properly before generating bio mass to replicate the clothing he had on before. Pushing the door open he assumed his combat stance, whatever was in his house was going to get the- Something smells good. His nose led him into the kitchen where the sound of crackling scrambled eggs screamed by having corn beef thrown on top.

He knew who it was but they were lucky to have been cooking. Pariah or some random government agent popped in his head when he was in the bathroom, yet it was clear who was here.

"Sarah! What did I tell you about coming home at unexpected times without warning me? You know how jumpy I am." Sarah let her head turn. "Well excuse me for wanting to make you feel less lonely, keep this up and you can forget about me staying over next week for Valentine's Day." The two had just started dating, but Alex knew just how to handle a woman of her type in terms of communication. He still had no idea why she liked him but there was an intense love she was holding inside for him that he could sense. There was no point in questioning love but sometimes he would still find himself asking 'why'.

"Yeah well you'd be missing out on a really romantic date if you didn't stay over, I'm not the romantic kind of guy but you give me a few ideas" He said resting his arms over her shoulders to grab her in for a kiss. Their mouths interlocked for a brief moment before she pulled away to focus on the food. Things weren't exactly picking up fast and Alex was starting to realize that she enjoyed being a tease. That wouldn't last for long however, Alex was never one to deal with the shortcomings of life unless he was absolutely forced to.

"You know I actually have to go right about now actually." Alex announced, his clothing transforming back into his old outfit. Something about being out and about didn't make sense without the jacket on him. Some things never change… Plus the outfit as much as he hated to admit represented himself. The outfit was a symbolic reference to what he was, plus it had become his staple, his signature, his most iconic combo of threads.

"Oh, I guess you do." Sarah agreed with a playful tone acknowledging his change of clothes. "When you get back I'd like to introduce to a new friend of mine, he's been bugging me about it for weeks. You know what no, I'll introduce you two maybe later down the week." Sarah wanted to be the best girlfriend she could be to someone, or something like Alex. Hopefully what she had planned would brighten up his day.

"That sounds really damn suspicious, but since you already know him I might as well meet 'em."

Turning himself to face the balcony he walked outside with his hands on the railing. Scanning the world laid out for him. It actually felt like things were back to how they use to, as if the infection never existed. Inhaling deeply he His destination was only a quarter a mile away. Nothing he couldn't handle. Jumping off the balcony he realized he actually had the time to fully enjoy what he was able to do, gliding in the air like some soaring plane. By some stroke of luck the sun was actually out today, and it added to the awesome feeling of freedom.

He spread his arms out feeling the breeze hit hard against his body. The city always looked better from this high up. He found looking down upon the people, watching their commute fun. Only rarely did someone ever stare back. Landing on some random roof he raced to edge throwing himself at the building ahead of him. Soon he was at the top. Being that he was ahead of the curve he sat down to take in the spectacle that was Manhattan.

The buildings, the flashing lights, the build boards and ads, the busy streets, the crowded sidewalks. He could see everything from here. It made his awakening all the more bitter. The infection thought it could overcome it city yet here it was, continuing its daily routine. Manhattan was lively just as he was dead. Below people hummed, people singed. Up here he moped, he mellowed. The illusion of happiness was something he kept trying to convince himself was real. All lies, the only form of reality that set foot in this nightmare was loss. The people below him weren't good, everyday they passed by homeless, started fights, or killed on another. The responsibility of protecting them wasn't worth it.

No matter how hard Dana tried, how hard Sarah tried, or how hard he himself tried. There was no fooling himself into believing that he wasn't going to be forced into killing someone again. He was immortal, it was bound to happen again. Just like the virus was bound to come back. Why was he letting himself become attached to another human? Because he was stupid enough to believe that things could get better.

They felt better for now. But with someone like pariah on the loose and other infected entities out there, he couldn't fool himself into being one hundred percent sure. Even if he somehow saved the day again he would have to watch them age, to watch them wrinkle into dust as he remained in the same form. The immortality he was granted was just a sick joke! Death was the most relieving thing to have. Something Alex Mercer would never find.

It didn't take him long to get to where he wanted. The training really paid off, he would time himself just to see how fast and precise his movements were. In fact thanks to his training he was able to take on the supreme hunter and Elizabeth like they were nothing. Maybe he should get back to training when the time was right. Now he needed to be there for his sister and other loved ones.

Valentine's Day was just next week, and he'd be a sorry loser if he couldn't manage to get something beautiful for the new girl in his life.

Sarah had sat on the couch watching some stupid movie on the tv. She thought it was incredibly silly but for some reason she couldn't stop watching because there nothing else to do.

"Aye bro can you stick this needle up my butt, it helps me with my workouts. No homo." What on earth? "Sure man, what are friends for." Said the other meat head injecting the needle into the pale white buttocks of the first imbecile. Pausing the TV she got up and stared at her phone waiting for Alex to respond to the chat she sent to him an hour ago on snap chat. She knew he wasn't the type to dabble with social media, but it was like he was purposefully ignoring her for some reason. Well he was a busy man, but still whenever he left she couldn't help but feel lonely.

The doorbell rung, excited to see Alex again she ran over to the door. Moving the door aside she paused at the girl outside the apartment.

"Please call when you come over Dana, you know how Alex gets." Sarah pleaded, she had only met Dana once but she could tell why she was here. Alex hadn't spoken to her in a long time, not since he introduced her to Sarah. To be honest she couldn't blame Alex for what he was feeling but this was getting old fast. 'Poor Dana, all she wants is to see her family but the only family she has is out kangaroo jumping around new York.'

"Yeah I know I just wanted to see if he was here if I didn't call…" Sarah was beginning to think that Dana had mind reading abilities to somehow know that Alex was out. "So what if he's not here, come on lets have some fun."

Walking inside the apartment Dana nodded, this was a pretty nice place. "How'd Alex get all the money for this place?" Well that was a good question. Alex never worked a day after the outbreak or during the outbreak. Sure his old job made sufficient earnings, but surely not enough to keep this new place. Robbing banks popped in her head, but that made no sense the more she thought of it.

"Dana to be completely honest, I have absolutely no idea how he got all this cash. And I'd rather stay ignorant as to how." Dana was going to respond with something along the lines with 'Me too' until she discovered the tv.

"…. That's some really interesting stuff you got there." Dana spoke staring at the screen dazed, lucky for Sarah she managed to pause the show right when the other guy was sticking a needle up the other guy's ass. What amazing luck she had.

"Huh? Oh, OH! That's just some" ending the sentence before she could embarrass herself any further Sarah turned the off the Tv to safe herself from Dana's scornful gaze.

"Ha, I'm just busting your balls. I use to watch that stuff all the time." Sitting herself on the couch before assuring to Sarah that watching weird stuff was nothing to be ashamed of. During her early years Alex Mercer was the only person Dana could show kindness appreciation for. Part of his bad behavior rubbed off on her and she realized this along with her growing age, she was twenty and needed to start acting like one. pleased to hear this but was still reluctant to look weird. Weird was something she liked in other people.

"Thanks but I was just curious, I don't really watch tv anymore."

"I stopped watch tv a long time ago Sarah, that's why I said 'use to'. You know I'm really glad you got paired up with Alex, ever since he started working with Gentek he started becoming a loner. He never even talked to me unless it involved getting information on Gentek for him. I'm just glad he's acting human and has someone to keep him less lonely… It'd be nice if we could hangout like we use to when we were kids though." Sarah listened to Dana intently, not wanting to interrupt her for a single second. The pain she must have been going through was amazing but she was oddly giving a faint smile. Seeing a friend like this was too much, it was her duty to make sure that her boyfriend's sister was cheered up.

"Dana It's not you, it's him. He's been going through some rough things, and it took me some prying to get through to him. I can tell he has a lot on his plate but be hopeful, he'll come out of his shell eventually." Sarah wasn't quite sure that made the younger girl feel better, but it needed to be said so that she had something to hold onto.

"He always had a lot on his plate, he never had a fun child hood…. Or adult hood. But I'll take your word for it." The two grappled each other for a hug. The hug dragged on for a bit and Sarah could sense that the younger woman was most likely crying. The outbreak was something that toyed with everyone's feelings, Dana wasn't an exception in this case. No one was going to be feeling anytime better knowing that millions upon millions died just recently. Whatever Alex was doing she hoped he could get back soon.

He was a grown man, she was a grown woman. Both had their own stuff to do, he had to… Kill some people, and she had to work as a journalist. Everyone had responsibilities in this world. She was beginning to learn that it would be selfish to expect Alex to be by her side when he had his own life. Independence was on Dana's mind.

Alex had reached his destination. The jewelry shop appeared to be the typical fancy kind. That meant that It'd probably have the proper kind of gift to award to Sarah for Valentine's Day. The electronic doors opened in the presence of Alex's footsteps, not stopping there he noticed the clerk giving him the run of the mill 'what the fuck is this guy doing' stare. People never liked his outfit, right about now he was guessing the lady was thinking 'this guy doesn't look like the type to have cash on him'.

"You got any necklaces around my price range?" Alex confidently questioned with his arm raised to show the woman he had the right kind of funds for a proper transaction. The lady looked surprised, and was probably now considering Alex to be some idiot with a bad sense of style instead of some cheap thug trying to make a quick buck off of mugging someone. Whatever the lady thought it didn't really bother him, he was always the odd one out.

"Definitely cash and not credit, give me a moment sir." The clerk opened up the glass behind her and pointed to a shelf containing a plentiful row of necklaces. All of them gave off the idea of luxury, and that's what someone like Sarah deserved. Scanning amongst the jewelry his eyes stopped when the most unique of the bunch stared back at him.

"That one" Was all he had to say when he pointed his finger at it. The lady seemed impressed by his taste and put it over the counter.

"That one should be 500k sir." Hearing this he tilted his head, he knew he had enough money for it but he was hoping it would have been a bit more expensive to show how much he cared. Whatever, it looked perfect and it would look even more so on Sarah's perfect body.

After purchasing the item with a tip he left the store in a hurry, he didn't want Sarah to be suspicious of his actions. The sweet breeze hit him, it was for sure afternoon. The busy sidewalk was pact but regardless he walked down not bothering to step aside for anyone.

It was always ironic, he wasn't a normal human. But here he was walking along like the rest of the sheep. None of these people knew what it felt like to Jump on a Tank will Bullets wizzing past you while you attempted to highjack an apc in order to blow up a nearby hive. Hell if he wanted to he could just bolt it right now and launch himself flying into the air without looking back. No, he liked knowing that he could still partially fit in even if he felt a few stares on his back every now and then.

Waiting at the end of the sidewalk he checked his surroundings. A pregnant women not a threat, a man walking his dog not a threat, a lady screaming on her cell phone not a threat. He continued to look around until he tensed arching his back with his hands raising up slightly when he saw a man with a gun but relaxed when he noticed the patch on his shoulder signaling his ranking in the law enforcement.

Now that the perimeter was clear he was ready to move again. After passing several blocks continuously repeating the tactic he faltered when he passed an alleyway to notice a man slouched up against it. Their eyes met and the other man approached Alex.

"Hmmm, what's your name boy" Said the man. He was obviously in his forties to fifties by the sound of his voice. The fact that some random punk was asking for Alex's name didn't please him at all, but he decided to keep calm out of respect. The guy was of African descent but what was most apparent was his glasses and knit hat. No wanting to be a 'dick' like he once was Alex tried the nice guy approach. Or attempted it at least.

"Name's Alex, what's it to you?" The man continued to stare down Alex looking down at his legs, and then back up. Well that wasn't creepy at all…

"Nothing really, my name is Fleece Johnson. Went to prison ya know, back then they called me the booty warrior." Fleece walked over to Alex but was pushed gently to the ground. Refusing to look like the weaker man he got up in Alex's face.

"Now listen here. I like ya, and I want ya. Now we can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way…. The choice is yours Alex." His blood was boiling now, Alex was in no mood for jokes or bullshit. Alex walked off with his hands in his jacket now. The nerve of some people… This was going to make for one hell of a story to tell Dana and Sarah though. Why was it that every time he tried being nice something like that had to happen?

"Not interested pal" He answered. Manhattan really had some 'interesting' folks, the chance of meeting new unique and strange individuals never surprised him like it once did. Boy was this a weird turn of events.

Fleece watched as the 'hot piece of ass' walked off. No way was he gonna let some 'fine' booty out of his sight. Prison had taught him to never let the prey get away. Alex kept on casually strolling on by until he was suddenly tackled to the ground face first.

"You took it the hard way, now you gon' have to give up the booty whether you like it or not!" Fleece angrily whispered into Alex's ear while struggling to pull the hooded mans pants down for access.

"What hell, get off of me!" Alex ripped the man off his back and slapped his face. Any normal person man would have stayed down knowing there was no way to take on such power but Fleece Johnson was no bitch. Prison had shaped his will to be stronger than any other normal man.

"You underestimated me Alex, that was yo second and last mistake." Fleece sharply yelled. "Back in prison booty was more important than drinking water." Running straight towards Alex the man was stopped dead, and that was what he was. Alex had sent his fist right through the other man's chest piercing his heart.

"A-All I wanted… Was… The Boo-Booty" The man gave his last breath, hunched over, and plopping dead on the ground. Slowly but surely his tendrils got ahold of the body to consume the man. first he felt a tiny little bit of bit of remorse, which was until he saw the horrors that were the man's memories.

"Have fun getting buttfucked in hell you sick bastard…."

Sarah and Dana spent their time getting to know each other for real without Alex in the way. It was quite fun getting to know Dana better, and the more she learned about Dana the more she learned about Alex. Who would have thought that Alex was such a fatherly figure with his loner type attitude

"I'm serious he use to actually stay up at night to read me bed time stories."

"Are you guys talking about me behind my back?" Alex smoothly interrupted. The two girls almost exploded with fear from the random voice.

"What is wrong with you? You get mad at me for entering the apartment through the door but you can just fly on in here through the window!" Dana laughed at Sarah's rant. The whole time Alex just stood there with his hands up like he was being arrested. Half smiling now he applauded his ability to make Dana laugh.

"First off , I came in from the balcony. And I was not 'mad' I was being cautious you weirdo" Alex said with a laugh. "It's not funny, and where have you been me and Dana have been waiting for you." The truth was that he had sought out for a necklace, got slowed down by Fleece Johnson, and then went to book a reservation for a romantic date later in the week. Knowing she wouldn't be pleased with a 'mind your own business' He simply told the truth, well part of it.

"Ya know, running around the city. I almost got raped but other than that it was pretty sweet."

"You almost got raped? HOW!?" Sarah asked with a confused smile on her face. Dana let out a small chuckle at how casual Alex was about it unsure if he was serious or not.

"By some ex convict. Typical stuff after the outbreak. You know if you told me that Dana was here I would have been back in a flash." He brushed past the couch to give his sister a warm hug. "Have you been ignoring me Alex?" Without a doubt he was. They all knew he was but she asked it just to see what he would say.

"Nope, and if I was I'd probably have a good reason." The answer he gave wasn't the best but it was still somewhat decent. Despite this his mind still took pleasure in degrading itself. 'Lying to your family, you're the lowest of the low…' He wanted to be a man and tell Dana what was on his mind, the truth. But he wasn't one, he was the black light virus.

"I just want things to go back to old days" She complained looking down. "They will, trust me Dana. All it takes is patience, that's all. We'll be watching horror movies like we use to before you know it". Human communication was another skill he was managing to master he concluded when Dana's eyes spoke the story of hope instead of the look of pain from before. He wasn't prepared for her visit but he was always prepared for the unexpected.

The hours flew over their heads. Alex hugged his sister goodbye for she wanted to get going back to her apartment before night fell. He knew she was capable of taking care of herself but he still worried about her getting hurt. The crime rate wasn't getting any better. This was all Genteks fault, he should have never worked for those suns of bitches.

"Can you change into your 'casual' clothes? Wearing a hood in doors is rude" His girlfriend asked walking in his direction, filling in the space between them. " I'm starting to think you only ask me to change because you like to see me transform instead of the hood in doors thing."

"You could be onto something Mister Alex J. Mercer." She replied watching him morph back into his old clothing, enjoying the tentacles that spontaneously came from nowhere to just change his clothes. Stepping closer she wrapped her arms around his neck for a kiss. Knowing just what to do Mercer let his arms wrap around her, while closing his eyes and tilting his head for a kiss. The two lips shyly met, opening her mouth to give permission to let his tongue enter he did just that with eagerness and compassion that Sarah wasn't expecting. Years of experience through several different lives told him what not to do, and what to do in a situation like this. He was the perfect kisser, and she was the unknowing lover who assumed he was just naturally gifted.

"I love you so much Alex."

"You what? Say that again please, I couldn't hear you." He lied , this was a risk but flirting took courage.

"I said I love you" Sarah repeated not believing his silliness. "If you love me you're gonna love what I have planned."

"I don't know what to get you, but I think I do at the same time." Sarah admitted with a sound of guilt.

"Really? Like what?" He asked with curiosity. Even he himself didn't even know what he could want, nor did he even want anything. The fact that she cared enough to get him one was all he needed. "You'll just have to wait and see superman." Sarah coiled back with her head resting on his shoulder. The two were still standing, and whatever it was she had planned Alex knew that it would go well.

"I'll see you sometime around next week" Sarah said letting go of Alex. Heading for the door she unlocked the door and left leaving Mercer alone on the couch.

'I am Alex Mercer, and remember what Dana said during the outbreak no matter what happens you're her brother'. The sight of Dana again caught him off guard. She must have really felt hurt by his neglecting actions as of recent, and there was no way to tell her the truth without breaking her heart. The most rational thing to do here was to just fill in the blank that was the original Alex Mercer. The soul motive for almost everything now was to make amends for what the real Alex did. Even if that meant lying to his close ones.

The infected forces were recuperating within a small underground stronghold. It was only a matter of time before they were fully capable of being able to dish out the full extent of their powers. Elizabeth mourned the secret loss of power at her throne, all these runners were hers to command. However it was Pariah who pointed his finger to instruct the lower ranks.

The world she wanted was stolen from her by this man yet she somehow liked the irony of it. Ironic in that she was the one who wanted to create a cruel world authorized by one supreme leader, and here she was being treated cruelly just as any other faceless minion. At least the man was ensuring the future she wanted to be made possible.

"Get those crates of Bloodtox over to the inner hives in less than a minute or else you're dead, get on my good side and I can promise you that you'll gain as much power as I have." Pariah lied with a friendly grin. In all aspects he was more skilled than Mercer. To be exact he remembered telling Greene how he was the better shooter, fighter, manipulator, and survivor when compared to Alex. With all that said, there was still something bugging him, Greene had mentioned that there was something in Alex that he didn't have. Whatever it was that wouldn't matter because he'd have it after consuming Alex.

"Permission to speak sir?" Asked one of the few handpicked guards selected by Greene. Pariah was in no mood to waste his time giving permission to someone who only deserved his permission to die. Looking around the red scaly walls he formulated that in order to sway their ideologies into his he would have to give them trust so they could build faith in him. So he decided to grant the permission anyway.

"Speak, but make it quick. There is work to be done number 1-1-6-3-7" Pariah responded reluctantly.

"I… I have no intentions on treading on your, plans. But I was just wondering what we stole all this equipment when the humans could just make for it." Asked the lower rank with a militaristic tone. Down in this confined space there were only women and a small miniscule amount of men. He preferred it this way, dealing with people like him generally pissed him off.

Usually the female runners pertained to confined abilities unable to evolve beyond their limits. To Mercer they'd be ants under his pristine Italian dress shoes Pariah thought. Their best use would be to do simple tasks, or overwhelm Alex with the sheer amount of them that Pariah commanded at his disposal.

"I am going to forget you ever asked me such a stupid question." Sighed Pariah. The guards lined up in the room tensed or adjusted themselves. Just moments ago Pariah had killed someone for just accidentally bumping into him. In short, it was not a death to be envied. "If you must know we are swiping bloodtox for our own personal use." The humans were a resilient species. The squirmy little rats had devised an anti-virus known as bloodtox that could kill almost anything infected. Pariah was no fool, allowing such technology to pester them would prove fatal.

"In the end we're just using this crap to build an immunity." Pariah adjusted his hood back onto his head. He never liked not having it over his head because in truth subconsciously he grew a dependency on the piece of fabric. The hood was there for him when he was a born, for when he was tested on, and for when he escaped.

Elizabeth Greene too shared a dependency on others, she could have just destroyed the whole world. Filling it with despicable creatures with no sentience but the thought of being lonely scared her deeply, and the thought of rejection infatuated her to try even harder to gain admission to the much needed acceptance that her ex-husband had denied her all those years ago when he locked her up after discovering she was infected.

All three of the main infected super beings had their own implications regarding the fact that they were infected. None of them wanted to be infected but life was never one to give the choice. Pariah was a piece of clay, no matter how you tried to fold him you couldn't change his true form that the world originally picked for him from the very moment he was born. Unlike Greene or Alex, Pariah never had a chance to discover the human side of himself.

Pariah wasn't inhuman because he wasn't infected. It was the dark hatred he held in his inner soul for others that made him inhuman. The idea of love and family all seemed like foreign concepts to him. In fact such thoughts scared him deeply, how could someone trust another person so much? The only morals he held onto tightly was his code of honor. A code he had developed that all revolved around the battlefield or ways of keeping his pride. Such as 'never hit a man when he's down' or 'Never, NEVER back down.'

The fact of the manner was that his path wasn't his, but destiny couldn't be fought. Destiny was something you embraced and followed through to the end. When he had gained knowledge on Alex Mercer, someone as brutal as him. Someone just as strong! A man who could put his honor and pride to the test! He just couldn't sit still, the idea gave this boring plain of existence a new outlook for Pariah. It didn't matter if he broke down coughing his own blood in the end, what mattered was that he followed his destiny.

Alex Mercer had given Pariah the will to live. The energy of a thousand nuclear explosions, and the fighting heart of a tiger. The image of their battle in all the ways it could go down played over and over and over in Pariah's head. It was all Greene had, and it was all that Pariah had.

'Alex…. The next time we meet…. One of us is going to die!' He enthusiastically thought with a smile.

"Wow you seem happy, what's gotten into you? I haven't seen that look on your face since the offer I proposed." Elizabeth curiously asked standing over her shoulder. The woman was actually serious, never once did Pariah differ from his war torn face or his permanent sneer unless he was deep in thought alone. Or thought he was alone in this case.

"I was just thinking about Alex Mercer." Pariah replied with a giddy like grin.

"You say his name like it's a damn Christmas present." Elizabeth swiftly commented chuckling after her own joke.

"Alex Mercer is more valuable to me than any future, I want him to be kept alive so that we can battle it out." He replied not caring to even look her in the face. The two sat on their custom made 'thrones' which were more like red tentacles attempting to replicate a seat in Pariah view but he didn't really care enough to complain. That was another problem, ever since he discovered what Alex Mercer truly meant to him he couldn't shake the non-caring attitude he held for almost anything that didn't connect to Alex.

Elizabeth Greene couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was this man really that arrogant and insane? He would risk the entire fate of the infected kingdom for one stupid battle instead of devising a plan that killed Alex off in one fell swoop! Sure she wanted Alex on to live but the audacity of this man was fist clench worthy. She needed to warn him because Pariah was obviously going to go after Dana, and if Alex found out Dana was killed he would go on a rampage look for the ones responsible. Not believing in Pariah's capabilities in a fair fight didn't help.

"You can't be serious! You're going to risk everything for some fair fight! I thought you were a man who never showed Mercy, why now of all times to suddenly grow some?" Her rant had only seemed to bug him but still he sat lonely in his chair watching the others work.

"I'm not going to change my mind. I am a warrior not a coward. Alex and I will fight mano to mano whatever happens after that is pointless to me." The man said resting his cheek on his fist. 'I can't believe this man…' Pushing herself off the seat Greene walked over to the lower hives.

Down here she could speak in private to her personal guards, runners that she could trust. Pariah made it loud and clear that he couldn't be trusted. So she was left with no other choice but to develop a secret army ready to turn on him at any second. Soldier that were still loyal to her commands but presented themselves as loyal to Pariah only.

The plan Greene had developed was risky on its own. The fact that her plan depended on Alex Mercer coming to her side to aid her was what she worried about. "We can set out for Alex, but we won't be able to stop him if he revolts."

"NO! No… I will speak with him myself this week, just make sure that Pariah's orders are followed while I'm gone and he won't have a reason to assume anything bad." Elizabeth said pulling the lady close so they were the only ones who could hear the conversation. "Tell the others of this, and make sure that no one else is recruited."

"Wait! What are we to do if the man refuses to help you?" Pleaded the worried soldier. Times were rough and no matter what side you were on there was bound to be casualties on either force. If Alex refused there'd be a blood bath, and if Pariah somehow found out that there were still those willing to go against him there would be serious karma on their hands.

"Alex and Pariah are going to fight regardless, but during that time we will aid Mercer if aid is needed." Elizabeth was sure that Alex would help knowing that he would have to in order to protect his dear sister. The only question left was whether or not he wanted to help build a new future.

"If Alex refuses to help build a new future then there's nothing we can do, I'm starting to hate the idea of an infected future because Pariah has tarnished that vision…" Greene shook her head in distaste.

"You're going now?" Greene's friend asked with concern. Pariah wasn't a fool, he was far from it. The peak of his rage would be centered around the lower life forms if he suspected anything. "Yes, and stop worrying. It'll all be fine."

The lady trailed off to the outside world. Alex Mercer's help was all she could use to consolidate her plan. There wasn't a break for someone like her. A touch of fear follows her as Greene erupts out of the ground back into the human world. Alex Mercer never once showed friendliness towards her, there's no way he would forgive her now.

The human world was unkind but there was somehow a sense of freedom being out of Pariah's sight. Fresh air soared through her entire being. The nighttime sky and all its stars welcomed her back. This wasn't her home, but it sure felt like it. The subtle change in setting lifted her spirit but she was still wary about Alex and their past relations. 'Who cares!?' Alex Mercer is a level headed individual, he could see through the past realizing that the prospect of not teaming up would leave him in a world he wouldn't be quite fond of.

Future was something that always bothered Elizabeth. Nothing ever worked out or went in her direction. Her original life was destroyed by her husband's actions, her second life was foiled by Alex, and now her third life was going to be thrashed by Pariah. Even her happy thoughts involved her day dreaming about the 'future' world. It was time to stop! No more future, no more past… The present was all that was left. And that's all she thought about as she made way for Alex's location.

 _ **Authors note: Just to prevent any confusion, Fleece Johnson isn't a character I made. He is a real man, and his character here was made to represent himself. In no way shape or form did I intend for him to represent the black community. Aside from that Pariah and Alex are not related to Elizabeth Greene at all in this story. It was a rooky mistake not to mention this before but I am learning from my mistakes. I plan on making the chapters get progressively more action packed. I also am sorry it took a while to post this chapter, I almost lost someone very special to me recently. That issue is resolved now, and I have a few ideas from that past issue that I can use as story elements.**_


	5. Chapter 5: Introduction of friend n foe

Sarah and Dana met up the next day. The best spot they agreed to chill at was one of the many café's that new York held. The reason Sarah even befriended Dana wasn't because she was related to Alex. It was because the girl could use a friend. Being alone was something Sarah could relate to, and it was something she didn't want Dana feeling. By some stroke of chance life just decided to make her feel like it was her job to ensure the happiness of this younger girl. And that was what she was doing, or was trying to do.

"You sure you're alright, you haven't said a word. And it's not like your drinking any of that coffee either…" Sarah said with her eyes to the ground. "Sorry! I was just daydreaming." Dana blurted out while rushing to get the straw in her mouth to sip some of that ice coffee they had ordered. The comment wasn't good enough for Sarah, she needed to know what was going through the other woman's mind to see if she could help.

"About?" Sarah asked looking up at Dana with curiosity.

"Isn't obvious?" Dana replied. '… No?' There was almost a whole series of things the lady could have been thinking about. Not including Alex, there were tons of things a new Yorker could be grumbling over at this very moment in time. At first Alex seemed to be the source of her worries but that would be too obvious. Sarah herself was feeling down too about everything happening with America these past few weeks.

"Look Dana, whatever it is that's bothering you… Just" The flow of words was coming from her heart. Genuine yes, but sloppy when logically examined. "At least you're still alive, Alex is still here, and you have me too in all this." Sarah beamed back placing her hand on Dana's to comfort her. This was the last straw. 'Sarah you're getting on my last nerve…' Removing her hand from the touch that felt acid like Dana opened her mouth to explain herself.

"Look it's not that simple. All I wanted to do was become a basic reporter! But ever since this zombie crap happened I that's ruined. The rent is crazy and I don't think I can make ends meet fucking around with failed careers. Ever since Gentek my life has been hell." Dana got up from the table to leave but was pulled back down with a hand clutched around her arm tightly. Sarah just couldn't let her leave without giving her a dose of reality and hope.

"You're not the only one suffering Dana! Everyone else is too. The economy is failing, martial law is still present, and the prices for these- the prices for stuff are still going up! People need to stick together or else we won't make it!" Sarah took her hand off of Dana feeling satisfied with her little speech that she was somehow able to improvise.

"How exactly is that supposed to help me?" The question punched Sarah right in the face but before they could continue the debate Sarah's cell went off. "Give me one second. And I will GLADLY answer that with a response so hard core that you'll never daydream again." She was lying and had absolutely no idea how to correlate her earlier words into something that could help Dana but luckily someone had called her.

"Hello?" Sarah greeted with her head sideways to Dana. Random calls never pleased her, and in fact they usually made her feel anxious. The number was unknown and there was no response on the line, things like this always got her on the alert because of how shady they were. The fact that most of her contacts had unknown numbers didn't help either.

"What time do Mercer and I finally get to meet… I need a real fight and I'm not going to sit here and wait on your time schedule, no one makes me wait…" The guy was always forthright, never wanting to be patient. That didn't get on her nerves, what did was the fact that it reminded her a ton of Alex.

"Not now!" Sarah lowered her voice a bit after yelling so that Dana couldn't decipher the phone call. "You'll get your chance, just wait a bit longer alright?"

"Change of plans… If you won't tell me where Alex is, I'll find him myself. I know some of your squad buddies could get me some Intel on the guy. You had your chance…" The phone went dead before Sarah could object to the foolish plan. Hell was going to break loose but it would fortunately break loose later because the guys plan was pretty damn stupid because her old squad was stupid. Dana threw a suspicious frown at the other woman. 'I just wanna go home, dealing with other people isn't my strong suit…'

"Dana I'm gonna head out thanks for everyth-"

"No! You are not going home, you're coming to my house and I'm going to give you some real advice." Dana wasn't furious with the response but at the idea that someone could be so arrogant of their 'advice' as if it could solve the whole freaking world. The only reason why she was still talking with the lady was because she was connected to Alex.

"Why can't we just discuss this out here again?" Dana asked while being dragged by the arm down the sidewalk in the direction of Sarah's house. "Because there's eyes an' ears everywhere. This isn't crappy advice… Trust me." 'Whoa. Maybe this advice is pretty good who knows. Maybe I should trust her if it's that serious'. The two jumped over a sleeping homeless man being that they were both jogging now and could of tripped over the poor dejected bum.

"Fine but don't think for a second that I'm going stay over there for more than a second if it's crappy advice." The threat was apparent but Sarah ignored it, there were bigger problems in her mind. Such as Alex being in the face of danger, but there was nothing she could do. 'The man never keeps his freaking phone with him!' And the only lame excuse he could muster for such an immoral action was 'It could get destroyed while I'm morphing into a disguise, or it could get damaged while I'm running around doing my thing.'

Yet again she found herself in the same tight spot of having nothing in her power to help. 'Stop over thinking this! Things'll be fine you'll see.'  
_

The mission objective was back to something familiar. Unlike all the other missions the two embarked on, this one actually pandered to their beliefs. And what exactly were their beliefs? Shooting the 'FUCK' out of the enemy, that's what. Myers and his friend Jason, stood facing one of the few Hives left. Terminating the infected for combat data was their main objective.

"Dude I'm telling ya, I had two bitches sitting on my bed last night" Jason boasted as he pulled his Desert Eagle out to blow several zombies heads off. "You're so full of shit man. You're just saying that 'cause I got a new girlfriend."

The two ran around the corner to get a better tactical position against the infected. The military didn't feel like it was under a single jurisdiction anymore, if they were still being commanded by their old leaders they would have never wanted combat Data. Myers couldn't deny the feeling he had that told him that the military was being torn apart by several different people, powerful ones at that.

"Back to what I was saying befor… Ugh! That BITCH got blood all over my new boots man!" Jason was never one to have self-control during the midst of battle. The infected were pouring into the alley they held themselves in, unfortunately they were in a dead end and the only exit they had was being blocked by hundreds of meat craving zombies all trying to get a tiny little piece of flesh.

"Who gives a damn? You don't really care that there's blood on your boots right?" Myers checked his ammo and observed his companion who was currently pumping lethal rounds into the enemy. One by one they fell, the bullets were strong enough to breach the decayed skin in order to again hit another few more targets. These new weapons were really handy, it was also great that their magazines held tons of rounds.

"I don't care about it but what if I wanna show off how cool they are to th back at H.Q? I freaking blew it man, I won't be able to show how badass I am now. They would have seen the blood on my boots and would have been like 'WOW, he goes on missions without a single struggle'" The sound of remorse for his poor shoes was not lost in his voice but Myers wasn't having it.

"You should wear things because you like them, not because other people do!" Jason knew he was right but he wouldn't let defeat consume him so easily. "I do wear these because I like them, I don't care what other people think. I just love having compliments thrown my way, and getting people's admiration for being better than them. That's all."

The number of hostiles within the premises was not going down. At this rate they'd be dead within minutes. They hadn't realized this until much further down the line of their conversation.' It just never ends!' Jason thought, they had spent over an hour in that very same alley and their ammo was depleting fast with no signs of the infected stopping.

"I don't know about you but I'm shitting my fucking pants right now!" Jason hollered trying to make his voice intelligible through the sounds of his rapid firing assault rifle. As much as Myers would hate to admit it, he honestly felt the same way. 'Are we going to die?' Danger was actually finding itself into his head. He could shoot all day with no fear if he had the ammo for it, but the grim reality was that his ammo was running short. It didn't take him long to realize that this may actually be his final mission. 'NO! I can't die here, I didn't go on all those suicide missions just to die a coward's death!'

The bodies were piling up pretty noticeably now, the other infected had to climb over piles worth of bodies before coming close but they were still threatening. The change of axis made It even harder to shoot than before. Only the sound of their own gunfire, astatic feet slapping against the ground, and groans could be heard. None of which showed signs of stopping, they had gotten themselves into a real stick situation.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Before we die. I want those twenty dollars that you owe me, so fork it up you greedy spaz." Jason stopped shooting and looked over to his friend unfazed by the growls in front of him.

"What? We're about to die! And I'll NEVER pay you back those twenty dollars!"

"I know you have 'em, so give 'em up or else I'll stop shooting them and start shooting you!" Myers threatened with his eyes to their corners trained on Jason with Veins surrounding them.

Jason looked back noticing that they were drawing closer. Their defenses had been breached, now it was all over….

"Great you distracted me! They're getting closer! Myers I love you like a brother man!"

"I love you too man."

'This is it, this is my last stand before I die'

Lighting exploded into the ground before them shattering the earth to a miserable crisp. The stench of charred flesh was in the air, whatever the blast was sent the two men flying into the wall behind of them momentarily rendering them useless. Electric sparks caught the attention of Myers ears but they soon vanished. They were still alive so that was a plus but what did that?

Pushing himself up, he was relieved to come to the conclusion that he only suffered minor injuries from hitting the wall. The infected must have left knowing that they met their match, what saved them? His neck cracked when he focused his blurry vision on the man in front of him.

"Who- Who are you?" Myers questioned from his crouched position. His vision was recovering and eventually the mysterious figure turned around. The figure stood tall over him, his body was clearly not normal and it was hard to tell whether it was hard to tell whether his armor was really armor or his body making Myers even more spooked.

"Names Mockinal, I have a few questions to ask you. And you're going to give them to me if you value life." His voice was clear that he was not playing around, and based off the fact that he just exploded a whole pack of zombies with just his body warned Myers not to fuck around with the man.

"Your body it just-"

"SAVE IT, I need to find a life form named Alex Mercer can you provide information on this beings whereabouts?" Myers had no clue what was happening or why the guy wanted to see Alex, but for whatever reason it was he was sure the man had no good intentions based on his stone cold expression and harsh wording.

"Hey I don't know you that very well but I can tell you're very serious about this, you know the guy yourself?" Myers asked picking himself off the ground. Mockinal's face fell to the ground for a few moments making Myers question what the other man was thinking but stopped short when Mockinal returned his face to its original position.

"That's none of your business, tell me where he is. I must know."

"I have no idea where he is?" He was lying and telling the truth at the same time. He only knew where Sarah lived, and she had told him that she was in contact with Alex. Maybe if Mockinal talked to Sarah he could find out where Alex's hideout was. 'Hell no, this guy would probably kill them both'.

"Why did I go out today? I should have stayed home eating apple pie. Please stop lying, I know you know. And I'm a higher rank than you, so I order you to give me information." Myers coughed laughing at the response. This was going to be more fun than screwing with John and Steve.

"Orders? What are orders? I never heard of that mysterious word before." His voice mimicking the sound of a confused child. Mockinal scrunched up his face and exploded with fury. "Why you little shit, I oughta give you a beating!" His hands were spazzing uncontrollably as if he wanted to strangle the idiot in front of him. His fist raises in the direction of Myers and a burst of bright light explodes from his knuckles sending a spree of bullets past Myers face into the wall behind sending debris into the back of leg causing him to lurch forward.

The primitive reflexes within Myers led him to believe he had just been shot. His hands shielded his face anticipating his death to come any moment now. The pain from his leg hadn't even begun to register yet, only the warm numbness of blood trickling down the member could be felt. 'Sarah isn't worth it, she stepped on my shoes that one time. Stop playing the hero and tell him' Myers inner head ordered him to. Mockinal stood inches away awaiting a response, he was in no mood to waste time breaking someone's arms and legs just to get a quick confession.

"Listen. This means a lot to me, just do me a favor and tell me where he is and I will be on my way."

"Huh, what were talking about again?" Back to his old self again the gunner aims his hand again showing that his threat from before still stands tall.

"Wait, wait, wait, I didn't sign up for this shit. I'll tell you everything I know just don't shoot me please! "

Alex intercepted a call just recently involving important business that both parties could benefit out of. Not knowing whether or not he could trust the callers he discovered it would be much more convenient to go in disguised.

Towering above him was the giant building sculpted about a massive length. Entering the building Alex failed to notice the giant brand name that labeled the building. It wasn't long before he was met with some security detail that alluded to Alex that the place must have been crawling with security cameras and other sort of armament of that nature.

"Look old man, I'm gonna have to ask you to skedaddle fuck outta here before you have a stroke or something." The guard grunted placing a firm grip on Alex's hand. The disguise didn't work out as initially planned but mastering the art of improvisation did have its perks. And with a comment like that, the death of this degenerate wouldn't really go too hard on Alex's conscious.

"Why yes kind young man, oh but my car is so far away could you help me over there?" The man stood looking behind him and then back unsure it would be allowed or not. If this guy couldn't deliver there'd be millions of other possible infiltration tactics that Alex could use. Some being far better than this one, but Alex preferred to go with the flow of things.

"Fine make it quick. Aye Tony don't go up without me" Said the unsuspecting guard to his former ally who was just about to enter the elevator. Both Alex and the guard left the building running around the corner to some seemingly vacant area. Now that they weren't inside the building he was fairly positive that there were no eyes on them. This meant he was free to steal this guy's body for assimilation. Turning around Alex grinned sinisterly at his prey, consuming people who wronged him weirdly gave in to some deep oppressed inner need for violence. The more blood there was, the more satisfied he would be.

Naturally his hand coiled back. The guard frowned suspecting a feeble and weak attack but the bullet like speed of a punch that awaited him was finally set free launching straight into his forehead shattering through the fragile bone marrow that was his skull. The mushy like substance of his brain splattered from behind his head, and any bits left intact were absorbed completely along the rest of his body. He was dead in an instant and didn't even know what hit him, in some way twisted way Alex thought the guy got off easy compared some of the other stuff he could have done to him.

"Damn dude that old geezer sure took his time, thanks for waiting for me Tony." The gift of obtaining ones memories and using it to his advantage was pretty handy. Sometimes if he focused hard enough he could take all the memories the victim ever lived, but other times like this he only gained what was necessary, oddly enough the man's memory was him entering the elevator and exiting to find the boss man in his 'study'.

"Sheesh you walked him all the way over to his car?" Alex pushed the floor number he saw from the memory to buy him some time before answering. "Not exactly, I walked him down the sidewalk and when he went to cross the street he got hit by a bus, and then run over by a tank or something."

"What?" The man seemed genuinely disgusted but Alex withheld his amusement to keep the conversation going.

"Eh don't worry about it, he was old and was going to die anyway." Just as Alex planned the rest of the trip upward sent them over to where he needed to be. Ditching Tony was and soon Alex found himself standing right outside the door that would lead one into the boss's room.

Both hands barged the wooden door right open. At the center of them room was a round blue carpet, bookshelves were on the sides, and just at the far back was a desk that the business looking man sat from. The grey hairs suggested that he was elderly but he could still possibly be a threat with the right kind of assets. His form changed as he exploded in his seat with caution as if he was sleeping, his finger furiously pointed at Alex and before he could dish out a motherly scolding Alex stopped him.

"Don't tucker yourself out, you mind explaining why you called?" Transforming Back to his much loved form the man shifted nervously back onto his chair before fixing his tie to calm himself.

"Ah, you. I the C.E.O of Verizon need your hel-"

"Ceo of Verizon?" Alex interrupted not caring for manners, the C.E.O of Verizon got his number? Who leaked his phone number and how? He walked over to the desk sitting in the chair that was probably laid out for meeting or interview type occasions.

"Ahem, yes. It would have been NICE of you to have waited for me to finish but yes. There's been a recent problem as of late, the military has been reporting less and less infected activity and I don't like it. I'm also losing my faithful military ties to shadows as in unknown sources. Meaning that there's a rogue element in the military, it's like the whole thing is split no one knows who's working for who."

"…." The new information was useful he couldn't deny that. But he was still caught off guard as to how Verizon was tied into all of this.

"You may be wondering why Verizon has military connections, well that's none of your business Mr. fancy pants. If you don't like it you can go hug a tree or something poetic like that". The elderly man stuck out his tongue taunting seemingly no one. '

"MMMMM? I still don't understand where I play into effect." Alex replied almost getting ready to leave sitting up. "Don't worry about the others said the same thing. I'll give you and the rest a call next week. All you need to know is that Verizon has got you covered. And how we found your number? We're Verizon we have eyes on everyone. EVERYONE."

"Sure… Anything else?"

"OH and before you go here take this, and yes that's real cocaine. Don't tell anyone I gave you some though. I just got bailed out of the slammer last Wednesday. Now go before I change my mind."

Alex stood at the center of the room unsure of whether or not any of this was actually real or not. His life wasn't going towards the place he had in mind but that's what life does, and he would know that the most out of anyone with the life experiences he's gained over the years of hunting and consuming. No matter how difficult things may seem, it would be wise to just go with the flow and accept whatever life throws at you rather than try to run from it. All the others who didn't follow by this way of life led horrible and or mundane lives that weren't at all livable.

"….Yeah sure thing." It was hard for him to say that, he knew he wasn't a very sociable person but regardless of this he knew that friend could be invaluable assets when it would come to bad situations. The room was really humid and the small fan drumming up a small gust of hot air wasn't helping either. It was time to go. The jumpy man only a few feet away from Alex looked like he had the same thing in mind so it would only make sense for him to leave now, and there was also the fact that he needed to keep a tab on Dana, Sarah, and Sarah's small group of friends.

He had almost forgotten the most important thing, he couldn't be responsible to do this lunatics errands. "I'll see myself out now, but I only have one thing to say and you better not forget it because I hate repeating myself. " The grey haired man looked up from his neat looking desk with a creepy smile but Alex put that aside knowing he'd have to make this clear. "I'm not going to do your dirty work for you, and I can't be responsible for when you expect me to show up. I am the one in control you, you got that?"

"You have really nice eyes, would you mind if I take a selfie with you? I need a new story for snapchat." His cellphone was already in hand but Alex wouldn't tolerate any nonsense.

"Did you not hear a single word I sa-" His brain screamed from within his skull, it felt as if someone opened his skull and crammed a grenade inside his head. Collapsing onto the carpeted floor, Alex rotated as best as he could on the ground in a direction that would best ease the aching pain in his head. In moments like these facing the threat would calm down the pain just a bit, but right now his whole temple wanted to erupt into a deadly mortar strike The door! It had just been blasted off its hinges, the faint smell of the debris entered Alex's nostrils. His mind would only act out like this if there was an intense foe. It wasn't much of a mystery being that the infected sense was giving him a sense of nostalgia as if he had met this threat before.

Any moment now he would recollect his strength once the threat was identified, this was the part where he would usually gain an ultimate passion and lust for violence making it his favorite part. The infected sense was clear cut, find the target, and eliminate the target. But the only downside to the second phase would be that you could lose yourself to it, there was always this awkward feeling that Alex couldn't shake that if he continued to be in a form like this that he wouldn't be able to come back. For some reason he wasn't feeling that now but his head was still hurting so what was the deal? He would be in major trouble if he can't get himself up within the next five seconds because this had never happened before.

"Alex?" The voice seemed unsure of itself. He definitely met this person before but he still couldn't put his finger on who it was. "I never expected to find you in a place like this but whatever." The lady moved forward just a few feet from the still slumped up Alex. 'Wait a second… OH my god!'

"GREENE!" his bones soft like marshmallow were bolted to the ground but being Alex he wasn't going to let that stop him. Noticing his weakness Greene closes the remaining space between them, using her hands to pick him up by the jacket.

"Get off of me!" The silky black coat is hard enough as it is to grab a hold of and his struggling wasn't helping either. All Greene wanted to do was help, but it seemed like he would rather have her dead. That really was what was on his mind but his stupid infected sense was still in phase one, and didn't want to initiate phase two, he couldn't even transform his blasted arms into claws so he could cut the woman into a fine red paste. How was she still alive anyway!? 'I swear once I get to phase two I'm going to cut you up into fish fillet' After a few more seconds of the contact Greene gave up to complain.

"FINE! Stay on the ground then, I'm risking my life to help you and you won't even give me the time of day to even listen to a single thing that I have to say! " The struggling stopped and Alex didn't know what to say. 'Help? Me? What for, what does she owe me? She could have killed me by now if she wanted to so I might as well listen.'

"Look. Say what you wanna say, but I'm gonna help myself. I don't need anyone else's help, especially yours." Alex acknowledged her shift in mood noticing her ease the tenseness that she held from before, yet this displeased him so he had to say more. "I have ABSOLUTELY-NO-IDEA how you're still alive but if you cross me again don't think for a second that I'll let you walk." The tough guy act was still a thing with Alex. Greene was going to have to explain herself fast so unfortunately that meant she couldn't back sass him for the rudeness that was leaving his mouth.

"Forget the nonsense Alex. What I have to say is important, so important that if I spoke to you in front of this old man I'd have to kill him."

 _ **Note 1, Apology:**_

 _ **I sincerely apologize for my lack of time conservation. The reason for my absence is due to my stay at the hospital, at which I found myself evaluated mentally by the doctors and psychiatrists there. In addition to that I have been given medication for my illness, and I don't feel like myself and it's hard to think clearly while on this medication. For my sake I hope that this doesn't affect my writing too much, but rather encourages it. I hereby apologize for that nonsense and swear that I will do my best to upload chapters whenever I can.**_

 _ **Note 2, Statement:**_

 _ **It has come to my attention that my story telling has been shady. I will do my best to make the necessary changes that is needed to help better my story. For instance, I will be notifying people of the alternate universe that this story takes place in. Beyond that I noticed that it was a concern amongst one of you that Alex's motivation for relationships was unclear, from here on out I will do my best to solve this problem either now or sooner. I highly doubt that this will continue to be a problem for long, but if it remains that way I shall do my absolute best to come up with a miraculous solution.**_

 _ **-Mark**_


	6. Chapter 6: Greene

Half of the night that they spent together was fantastic the two of them had so much in common, Dana was totally blindsided by how sister like Sarah could be. It's not like that was a bad thing but Dana was someone who took after her parental figure; Alex. With the amount of loner like traits that they both shared Sarah somehow still managed to fight her way into both their lives proving that every loner has a soft spot. At first Dana was hesitant to learn of the new 'advice' that Sarah would give but after some talk the pair learned that the solution could work given the right amount of time.

"That actually sounds like it could work. But don't tell Alex or else he'll kill the both of us, most likely when we're sound asleep." Dana wasn't one to test the annoyingly parent like care that Alex would dish out from time to time. Sure it was nice and all that he was caring but sometimes being over protective was an issue, and a zombie apocalypse seemed to only further the irritable sensation of having an over protective brother on your case every single minute of each day.

"Yeah working for them could be tough, but just be sure to tell him. You know how vindictive he can be when it comes to keeping him out of the loop."

"So what's the hours like?" Dana asked attempting to talk about something other than Alex, walking over to the classy styled table placed in the middle of the room with Sarah lying against the wall with her arms crossed. For some reason she felt it a bit weird being in her potential sister in law's house but that didn't stop her from getting comfy. "I'm not gonna lie to you Dana it can be difficult working the hours they give, really difficult. But I'm sure you could handle it." The door bell sounded off making Sarah flinch into an awkward combat stance, not wanting to escalate the tension Dana figured that finally sitting at the table would be the best choice to take. 'Better answer the doorbell before the house explodes' Dana joked following Sarah with her eyes acknowledging the other women having to open the door.

The door was only inches away from her, it could be anyone at first she suspected some sort of enemy but that would be silly. Setting a good example for Dana she calmed down once she started to unlock the security measures she had placed ages ago on the door. Her best guess was that it was Alex, but realistically it was probably one of her squad buds like Myers or Sam. Either way she would have to dismiss their company unless it was Alex because she was busy currently dealing with Dana, so they'd better have a good excuse for budding in like this. 'If this is Myers with another one of his retarded Pranks I swear to the lord and Savior that I will unfriend him on every social media account that I have. I'm serious this time!'

The secured door opened hoarsely effectively catching the attention of Dana but due to her seating position she couldn't see who was at the door. It wasn't that bad because the person outside the door wasn't a friend of hers, or Sarah's… Sarah stood bewildered as her brain processed the figure in front of her, every time she saw this man it was hard not to think about the condition his body was in. What worried her the most was how he had managed to locate her safe house, who led him here?

"I thought I told you to never come here, what made you think I'd change my mind?" The rude tone of Sarah's voice was hit or miss. She barely knew this guy but so far he demonstrated that he wasn't such a mild person, which made Sarah more confident in giving such a feisty bark. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything, I see that you're not alone." Thanks to his handy perimeter scanner in his augmented vision he could tell that there were two humans within proximity as the scan was foretelling that there were two heartbeat signatures.

This was bad… 'Oh no he's going to barge right in any second now, and if he does he'll know about Dana! I have to find a way to get him to go home.' Dealing with this slime ball was hard, but there was no way she could do it with Dana in close blasting distance.

Dana had no clue as to who was at the door but she could tell that it wasn't a welcomed guest by the way Sarah told him off. Perhaps she could assist the lady and pay thanks for the advice by helping her remove such an untimely visitor? 'No, it'd be better to just let her handle this. It's her problem not mine.'

"Ugh, why do you always show up at the worst of times…? If you go back to base now, I promise you that you'll get what you want." Sarah amended her stance into an assertive pose to show that she meant business but by the look of his fire like eyes he wasn't going to give up easily.

"Don't give me that lame excuse. This is becoming a real pain having to listen to your false promises." The look he was giving Sarah wasn't pleasing her at all. Glancing behind her she lightly shoves the man a bit forward so that she could close the door for some privacy. Now that they were both outside they could speak in private if you discount the passerby's and cars speeding down the urban street.

"I'm sorry Mockinal but I don't really care because you should have waited like we had both agreed. And you still haven't told me how you found me!" The cyborg looked behind him reassuring himself that the perimeter was clear of infected, OR of any super human individuals ready to kick his ass. "Your Blackwatch buddies aren't the most loyal of friends. All it took was a little persuasive encouragement and the little rat squealed. I told you what you wanted to know, so could you please tell me what I want to know?" Mockinal spoke effortlessly as if he had already planned what he was going to say knowing that the conversation would lead this way.

"What- exactly do you wanna know?"

"I want to know why you won't get Alex for me." Mockinal replied with a knit brow, all this delay was getting him on edge. Not to mention all the weird things that were going on as of late.

"We went over this, all you had to do was wait but if you want to meet him today then you can. Be my guest. But answer this for me- Why is it that YOU were so quick to rush things when they were going perfectly fine?" Sarah huffed indignantly. Everything would have been perfect if he had just waited, but now she was beginning to question whether it had been a good idea to trust this guy in the first place.

"Alright it was wrong of me to try and rush things. Okay I admit that, but I'd do it again without a single hesitation because I had good reasoning to rush things." A tired sigh escaped Mockinal's mouth letting Sarah know that he wasn't happy with the situation either, but he had yet to answer her question. It was almost next to impossible to ask this shady guy a question without him wasting time with an unclear explanation.

"You always dodge my questions, what's the deal? I can't give you trust if you can't give me trust, I'm not even sure if we're friends or not" Sarah coiled back throwing her arms in the air impatiently. "I won't dodge this one if you invite me inside, I don't feel too comfortable with the idea of spending thirty minutes out in the open explaining something confidential for every spy on the face of the earth to hear."

Instructing the infected forces was easy but gaining control over sections of Blackwatch was the more risky part of his plan. Nothing was ever impossible for him however. His brain carried the mass intellect and knowledge that was needed for such operations, years of consuming would do that to a person. Some would say that Pariah was a monster for his actions, but he was only a product of what he had learned from other humans. As for corrupting Blackwatch as If that was ever possible with how shady they were, all he had to do was implement infected spies into the Military, Gentek, and finally Blackwatch. The only thing left to do was bask in his glory, and then commence the final stages of his plan when he would feel like it. It was almost unreal having all this power, he could only imagine what it'd be like once everything was done and over with. Dreams were for the weak but luckily he was a daydreamer who never sat around thinking about things he wouldn't actually do.

"Commander Pariah! Ninety percent of the infected population are now immune to Bloodtox, within an hour all of us will be able to withstand even the heaviest of doses of Bloodtox. I sincerely hope that the pace of this operation is to your liking." Every now and then a few elite members of the infected would come to inform him of their successes, never their failures. There would be a huge temper tantrum if he ever caught wind of a possible failure.

"That's the news I like to hear" A dark smile crept on his face, every single piece of good news helped alleviate some of the constant swirling pool of hatred and anger he often found himself in. "Keep this up and you'll be my right hand at the end of all of this." A look of relief crossed the infected member's face. Pariah was constantly going through mood swings, and it seemed that the most trivial of things held no difference to that. Each day it got worse with him. At one point there was a time where someone smiled at him and he blew up into a rage that took hours to calm. She was just glad that she was able to deliver good news as the last person to deliver bad news wasn't well endowed with the punishment Pariah had given, she could still remember the sloppy mess that Pariah had created with his bare hands.

"I almost forgot! Have our forces found the location of his allies' safehouses?" Pariah sat up in his chair looking as if he were back to him old self again. The frown of surprise on him told the infected member to be careful with her words. "-We're working on it sir, so far we're chasing a popular rumor. The locations of his friends should be within your hands very soon." The infected member replied, the muscles on his body relaxed and it was at times like these that the infected forces were glad he didn't wear a shirt so they could tell the level of emotion he was holding in him. The cold frown he wore almost never left him though. So it was good to know that a flex would signal death and you'd at least see it coming.

The infected member was prepared to book it before anymore of his fits were thrown but before she could he called out for her. Just when she was starting to feel hopeful that was all shattered within a moment's notice.

"Wait, do you know where Greene is? I can't sense her presence meaning she's masked it somehow." NO! Greene had wanted her to stay here to occupy Pariah but he was growing suspicious. 'Elizabeth trusted me to have courage, I sho-'

"Never mind, if she turns out to be traitor that will be the least of my worries if I have any at all. I already told Alex of my plan for the city. If anything, she'd be doing me a favor by ratting me out. I want Alex to know I'm gunning for him." The real truth was that Pariah had no control over Elizabeth, if she had left and found a way to mask her presence from his senses then he'd have no choice but to pretend like it didn't affect him. In a mindset like that it wouldn't but he knew that something like that could be devastating to his plans, but either way it would be smart to continue the role as a leader who was able to adapt to any situation. One who could change plans on the go whenever shit hit the fan. Otherwise he would appear weak to his subjects and that was something he refused to be.

"I think she went out for some air according to the others." She lied trying to make it seem like she knew nothing of Greene's whereabouts. Out of the corner of Pariah's eye there was an unwelcomed guest entering the vicinity, if this was another useless piece of drone information Pariah would lose it.

"I'm bored man, do we have any games in here?" Everyone in the room looked up at Pariah expecting another blood jolting yell of anger but no. His face was astonishingly monotone and his look was passive staring straight through ignorant moron. For once all the guards let their muscles relax and ease up a bit, working around Pariah was stressful business.

"You're bored? Do think this is a game!?How about you play the game of GETTING THE FUCK OUTTA OF MY BASE!" A dauntingly powerful heel kick was delivered to the victim's stomach. Flying at the end of the room his back hit the wall and for a split second Pariah thought he could hear the sound moron's spine shattering. The poor victim fell and remained on the floor for several seconds only adding to Pariah's pleasure. Silence was a good way to measure someone's pain, and watching others suffer was one of Pariah's favorite pastimes.

"… That doesn't sound like a very fun game." The fool whispered as loud as he could with his body still posed on the floor in fear that his back could break if he stood.

Again Pariah's face went blank. Some people just really knew how to push his buttons without even knowing it. 'Is letting this insignificant child ruin my day worth it? No, I shall let the others handle it'. Pariah looked back at the infected member he was just talking with moments ago and pointed at her.

"You. Would you be an angel, and escort this filthy retard to the torture chambers." Pariah waited for her to pick up and drag the body out of the room enjoying the blood trail his legs were making until he was out of sight. "Speaking of torture, I want you guys to spread the message, find Alex and his friends. Once you've gotten that taken care of report back to me immediately. Don't harm them or let your presence be known in any way shape or form until I give you the go. Now leave me all of you, I want some peace and quiet. I said go, I need some me time!"

"You think you can just waltz right in here and screw with me? Why should I go with you?" Alex was still reluctant to trust Greene, he consumed her! That was supposed to be the end of her, did she somehow leak out of him when he was unaware? His thoughts continued to race but he stopped himself once Greene got closer.

"Alex look me in the face, I have no intention of harming you! What's going on with you?" Alex didn't respond but only looked down gritting his teeth in dissatisfaction with his current state. This never happened before but his body seemed to be inducing him into a stun like state only because it didn't want him to harm Greene, did this mean that she was a threat but not a true threat?

Alex focused long and hard trying to achieve the perfect state of mind, for some reason his body didn't want him laying a single razor sharp finger on Greene for some obscure reason. Would this happen again if someone strong but non-threatening would appear? 'Who knows, the best I can do for now is adapt, that's all I've ever known. Even as a young child I had to learn to adapt to survive.'

Yes, he was able to stand on one knee. This was good he was making progress, soon he was able to stand on both legs, but the headache still persisted. "How'd you find me?" Alex asked with a fist on his forehead, the pain was there but it wasn't as unbearable as before.

"Let's talk somewhere vacant, here let me help you." Elizabeth grabbed Alex's arm and folded it over her neck so he could get a better footing. "Does that happen often?"

"No, it happens and when it does the other person ends up deader than dead." The two of them walked out of the room leaving the C.e.o of Verizon alone to his thoughts. "I love cellphones." After some time to recover Alex and Elizabeth stormed the nearest towering building to talk privately. Being this high would have made the two cringe in fear long ago, but now they had the spirit to face anything. The buildings from afar were hazy and hard to see but everything on the roof was in plain sight. Which ended up to be a few ventilation ducts and pipes of sorts.

Alex was relieved that his body was acting normal but in his quickness to seize the opportunity to kill Greene when she wasn't looking his body began to ache. Something was wrong here, was Greene seriously trying to help him? 'That's absurd, who would want to help someone like me after I consumed them!? That's crazy!' Sitting down at the edge of the roof Alex observed the daily commute happening below seamlessly ignoring the fact that at any minute he could fall right off.

"You want to explain why you wanna help me? I don't really understand as to why you'd want to but I'll listen anyway." Greene took four steps forward and sat next to Alex, the man didn't even have the decency to look her in the eyes. Instead he was busy looking down below. "Pariah is going to try and kill your friends, he already has an army of infected. Most of them are female as there are only few male runners that exist and I have no idea what Pariah is using them for. I had found this out not long ago, but I wanted to tell you this as soon as I could." Elizabeth said slowly trying her best to make sure that Alex got the gist of everything. The both of them sat quiet and for some reason Alex couldn't piece it all together. 'She's helping me out because she has something to gain from it but I still don't know what that is. I mean, everyone has their own personal agenda no one is ever truly pure. I just have to be glad that I know this much now rather than later.'

New York was beautiful at night everything was shining bright, and there was just so much to look at. For a while the two remained quiet. Elizabeth remained patient with Alex figuring that he must have been formulating some sort of plan for all this. She could only hope that he had one knowing the Pariah's vision for the new world was going to be juvenile.

"Elizabeth." Alex spoke the words almost unintelligible as if he were still thinking of what to say. Her face was pointed towards him again, and for the first time he looked at her without any hate or malice. For the first time she could actually appreciate the eyes he had staring back at her curiously. There was something special about Alex indeed and for this split second she realized that it was his ability to adapt and change himself for the others around him.

"I appreciate all this. I know that you're risking your head for me and going out of your way to help. But I still don't understand why. What could you possibly achieve by helping me?" Alex was always the type to question others and their will to help others. This was different though, what Greene did here was risk more than her life, she was willing to make herself vulnerable for Alex. 'There has to be some ulterior motive to all this. It just doesn't add up without one.'

Elizabeth flashed Alex a toothy grin avoiding eye contact, she couldn't tell him the full reason otherwise that'd be super awkward. Fearing that he'd reject her in some way Greene went on to play up another story. "Pariah isn't a good man Alex, and you're the only one that can stop him. Is that the answer you were looking for?" Displeased with her answer Alex chuckled. "No, but it's still an answer. Sorry for- killing you, it's just that you seemed distorted and kinda crazy before."

"Don't be so modest, my mind was just getting use to the virus so I was seriously warped in the head. I'm talking about insane in the membrane." Elizabeth joked trying to hide her smile. These were serious times but every now and then the world has a way of making you sit back to really grasp how silly everything truly is.

A gust of wind blew against Alex's hood almost causing it to fall but with his sharp tuned reflexes he prevented any mishaps from occurring. Realizing just how late it was Alex glances back Elizabeth.

"It's getting late, thanks for the heads up. I'm gonna find my family and make sure they're alright. Thanks to you Pariah won't get the drop on me." Alex said just about to jump into the night going wherever his instincts would have led him.

"Mercer wait!" Elizabeth was discouraged completely, how was he going to just up and leave? "I need you to get stronger okay? I know the location of Pariah's whereabouts but I'm not going to tell you where he is until I'm one hundred percent sure that you can beat him because then my cover is blown otherwise." Well that was expected, she was going to have him run errands for her. 'Just like a puppet she wants me to, no be mature about this Alex. This is the world we're talking about here. '

"I don't like the fact that you know where he is and that you're going to keep his hideout from me but fine… I also don't like the sound of cover, what do you mean by that?" Alex retorted with his eyes closed holding in the anger that was building inside of him. 'Oh shit! How am I going to explain this to him? If I tell him that I was working with Pariah because I thought he could be a fit partner for the new world he's going to freak out about what I had in mind for the world, and I can't tell him that I wanted to ditch Pariah for him because then he may reject me like last time.'

"Well uh, me and Pariah you see. We, kind of had the same vision for the future but he was a little too impulsive with his ideas so it be awesome if I could have your help getting rid of him you know what I mean?" There was no point in being mad at her knowing how she was risking her life helping him but he was still pissed off that he was being used, and that she didn't want to give him the information he wanted. If it wasn't for his damn infected sense going wild on him he would have consumed her by now and known exactly where Pariah was. Fate had a weird way of messing up his plans.

"Fine, consider yourself lucky that I have the patience to deal with all this. If he mentions anything my family come find me so that I can know. It was… Nice talking with you I guess but I gotta make like a tree and get outta here. I'll see you- When I get stronger. "

Alex used his surroundings to help cope with the stress of his family being harmed. It may have been stupid to create one, and realistically if he was the original Alex Mercer he would have never considered anyone family let alone Dana. Yet for some reason he was starting to open up to people, not only were they useful but consuming has given him the life's experience to know that the people with people in their lives led fun and interesting lives while the ones who isolated themselves from everyone often fell into a darkness that was almost impossible to escape.

Pariah was probably one of those people Alex guessed still gliding towards home. Come to think of it the only family Pariah must have had were Doctors of some sort but Alex knew just how cruel Doctors could be with his experience at Gentek. The more he thought about Pariah the more he thought about himself they had so much in common. It just so happened that Alex was still able to lead a positive life even after all the darkness he went through.

Something was wrong however, family could sometimes mean strength and weakness. Alex had a crystal like flashback of Dana helping him get his memory back, but then him having to save Dana from a hunter another time. Pariah's involvement in his life meant that Dana and his new girlfriend, and friends meant that they'd constantly be in danger until Pariah was stopped. Hell even after that they could still be in danger. There would be no end.

Alex continued to race home with everything circling in his mind unsatisfied with the realities that were being presented. There had to be a middle ground, he just didn't know what level he was at yet. Finding the middle ground was all Alex ever wanted, patience was something that was necessary without it he would have given up way back.

Sarah was pleased that Mockinal was willing to give her a decent explanation but as time passed by she begun to grow weary of his antics. On one side she could let him in and gain some sweet info but on the other hand that would be putting Dana at risk. If only Alex was here, the freaking idiot never stayed in one place for more than an hour. Her only option would be to dismiss Mockinal's explanation for later.

"Do you need help with this guy Sarah?" Dana questioned looming behind Sarah almost tilting her body to get a good look at the stranger. "Who I am is none of your business but since I'm intruder here I might as well tell you. My name is Mockinal the most advanced cyborg in the world." The mysterious being drew his hand awaiting for Dana to shake his hand but she was in her own lala land. The man was absolutely intriguing his eyes were augmented, but the most alluring part of him was that his arms were fully mechanical, jet black steel no flesh in sight other than his head and parts of his neck.

Dana awoke from her snooping and blinked multiple times trying to formulate the right words to apologize. "It's ok it happens all the time." The muscle shirt he was wearing showed off his arms and chest, he was a bit skinnier than Alex but the machinery was still cool to look at. "No I'm sorry I was just".

"Shut up Dana! Look you can come in but just give us a moment." What was Dana thinking? Placing herself in danger like that was extremely reckless and naïve! Shutting the door on Mockinal she grabs Dana by the shoulders and begins to yell. "Are you crazy? You could get yourself killed doing stuff like that!" Dana laughed uncontrollably at Sarah's sudden crude behavior over the littlest thing ever.  
"So you're telling me that if I talk to friends of yours that I'm going to die? Well played Sarah, well played. 'No! You don't understand, I barely know this guy!' Sarah had no choice but to let the man in now, he had already met Dana and it was crucial that she obtained that explanation.

Mockinal stood outside wondering if it was a good idea to have come here in the first place until the door opened. Before he could say anything he was snatched up inside the house, and the door was closed again. So much for friendly invitations.

"You two, sit at the table I'll be back in sec." Following Sarah's orders the two did just that sitting next to each other. For some reason Sarah was acting weirdly around this guy, who knows why but it was still weird. If she could find out more from him using her A class reporter skills she'd be able to relax a bit.

"Alright tin can, you know why she's acting so weird?" Dana asked not caring at all to use effort in extracting the information she wanted. "That's a first. How 'bout you ask nicely hex girl." The amusement in his voice made the insult all the more frustrating. 'Me a hex girl! Hell no!'

"Take that back tin can!" Sarah was over hearing all this but was too worked up to care. How was she going to explain this to Alex? His little sister could be in so much danger right now, and it's not like she couldn't tell him. Go with the flow is what she reconciled herself with. Returning to the table she placed three glasses of tea for everyone to enjoy.

"Play nice you guys, we're all in the same war against zombies after all." Sarah said sitting down next to them preparing to take a sip of tea. "And Dana before he explains himself, I want you to keep an open mind. Don't go snitching to Alex or else you won't be getting anything from me on Christmas."

"He called me a hex girl Sarah, do I look emo to you?" Dana asked with a worried expression on her face. Sarah was going to say yes but she was unsure on whether that would hurt Dana's feelings or not.

"Who cares? Mockinal go ahead and explain yourself." All this time passed by and now she was getting the explanation she needed. He must really have had a great reason to try and rush things as he sounded serious before. Staring at him now Dana was curious as to what the hell was going on, only now would she find out.

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **Yes it's another author's note boohoo. I know that this chapter was a bit short and all compared to the others but be that as it may, I tried to make it more entertaining. I have big ideas for these next few chapters, some are make sense while others are just plain silly. Let me know how you feel about the C.e.o of Verizon. His character is actually crucial to the plot of this story and without him the story would fall apart. Not really, but still I try to make sure that every character has a purpose of some sort within this story. This next chapter is going to have some action to make up for this chapter's lack of it.**_


	7. Chapter 7: Victim to the machine

Dana and Sarah sat across from each other waiting for Mockinal to ground out the overdue explanation. He fumbled with his hands for a bit which worried Sarah making her guess that he was going to stall but she kept silent. Time went on like this until Mockinal sighed and began to speak.

"Before I start I just want to let you know that I've already met Alex before. We were young then but I don't like to remember those times. I once considered him a close friend actually. But he didn't consider me anything, that's all I'll reveal about our connection with one another." Mockinal stopped for a second to choose the best of words, he didn't want to appear confusing to them.

Sarah knew that Alex wasn't the very happy go lucky kind of guy with other people but Mockinal's words were totally new to her. Never once did the man mention anything of the sort.

"You knew Alex? Why didn't you tell me? If I had known that, I would have been more trustful towards you. See this is the problem with you, you're just like Alex. You like to hide things from me."

"I didn't think it mattered." Mockinal smirked sipping the tea that Sarah had given him moments ago. The warm fluids entered his body and thanks to his augmentations he couldn't feel any of the scorching hot pains that one would normally feel from drinking fresh hot tea. 'Yeah well it does matter you freaking tin can' Sarah was beginning to think that everyone Alex knew were either loners or un-trustful people. Still the guy was telling the truth now, and that's more than she can say for some other people she knew.

"There's been talk in Blackwatch about corruption going on everywhere. More than ever, and I've seen some other weird things like more female recruits." Sarah had always known that Blackwatch was corrupt but that didn't stop her from signing up. Their enemy was exactly the same as Sarah's enemy, the infected. Ever since her parents died to the outbreak she swore to fight the infected until she grew old and wrinkly. But by Mockinal's words she could tell it wasn't the usual sort of corruption, this was something much more ominous.

"Now I'm not trying to be sexist here but something's was definitely up, so me being the detective I am. I hacked into Blackwatch's data base and found that most of these new recruits are from unknown military backgrounds. After that I do some more snooping and I find that these recruits have been trying to extract Intel on Alex Mercer, and it just so happens that almost every single day a few guys who knew a few things about Alex end up missing more often than I'd like to say." Dana wasn't getting the whole picture. More female recruits? What did that have to do with anything?

Sarah unlike Dana was puzzling the conspiracy together in her own head. All this new information meant that someone with a lot of power was after Alex, it was the fact that she didn't know who that worried her. If Alex died to some corporate fat cat she didn't know what she'd do besides wanting to swear revenge. The people in her life had a way of disappearing, maybe that's because she wasn't afraid to accept people into her family. To her Alex and Dana were all she had left so it was important that she kept them from serious danger or death.

"I wanted to meet up with Alex for, well Dana's here so- I was rushing to see him because I needed to warn him about this." Mockinal finished his sentence looking at Dana suspiciously. If it wasn't for Dana's EXPERT reporter skills she would have missed the fact that he was hiding something from her.

"What do you mean 'DANA'S HERE'? Why else did you want to see Alex? I bet it's because you had crush on him or something!" Dana stood up from her seat yelling at Mockinal who was sitting next to her who at the moment was raising his hands in front of his face as if he was about to be attacked. "Dana sit down, you'll know soon enough we just have to wait for Alex to get he"

Speaking of the devil everyone turned their head once they heard a squeak in the floor behind them. It was Alex! Mockinal's mouth dropped, he couldn't remember the last time seeing him in the flesh it was almost unreal. It was only recently that he was familiarized with Alex after he was assigned a mission to find him in order to test the cyborg parts for combat data. The painful memories came back to him.

Alex Mercer use to be a friend of his. They had first met at some foster home housing several different kids. Some violent, others isolative. Finding a real friend was tough but Alex was there to distinguish the two from the rest. Dana was young then too and the only person she had to look up to was Alex who at the time got into fights whenever he could with fellow foster children whenever the daycare workers weren't paying attention. It was thanks to Alex that he was able to stay safe for so long. Pushing the memories aside Mockinal comes back to reality.

"Sarah we have to get outta here fast before- who the hell's this guy?" Alex readied himself for action the man looked like terminator of some sort, no way was he going to let a combat puppet near his family. Especially after hearing the news from Greene about Pariah and his army. Sarah swiftly got up and ended the farce by jumping between Alex and Mockinal. This was her house, she could have any visitor she wanted.

"He's a friend of mine Alex you don't have to go killing him like you do with all the other soldiers you see." Sarah was serious, if she wanted Alex to do what she wanted she'd have to go hard on him.

"No Sarah I think it's about time me and Alex caught up with each other." Mockinal interrupted from behind. This was the day he waited for, a day that took years to come, and now that day was here. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't bitter about what happened, but revenge wasn't the reason why he came to see Alex. Personally, it was because he wanted to see if his old friend was still out there somewhere.

Mockinal left his seat and trailed out the front door letting a huge amount of unwanted wind to soar into the house. He knew Alex would come after him within mere seconds. Alex never backed down from any sort of fight. Not even when he knew he was going to lose, this time Mockinal hoped he could at least see some of the same old spirit from Alex he once saw. The weather was terrible ever since that nuke went off near the coast of Manhattan. But Alex didn't give a single damn about the weather as he ran out the door closely following Mockinal into the middle of the abandoned street, the sound of sirens and other ambience introduced themselves to his ear.

"You don't remember me do you? Can't say I blame you, but I'm sure you'll remember this!" A streak of bullets hit Alex in the forehead and eye, 'He shot me with his knuckles!' A second fist was lifted into the direction of Alex but jump rolling out of the way Alex desperately morphed his fist into a whip as bullets whizzed past him snapping the tree behind him in half. 'Okay clown if you wanna dance let's dance'. Alex threw his arm behind Mockinal and the appendage stretched effortlessly in the direction of Mockinal. The last opponent he had fought with electricity was Cross, and he didn't particularly enjoy that fight remembering how formidable his Taser was.

The arm flew right past Mockinal who stood in place knowing the attack would miss thanks to his augmented eyes. "For a guy who has the power to gain ones abilities, your aim sure is bad. It's even worse than UGH!" The slip up cost him dearly as the stretched arm returned hitting him with a car that was ready to explode on impact. 'He wasn't aiming for me he was aiming for the car behind me!' Thank the lord his body was made up of machinery, his body was made to withstand the toughest of infected. Specifically it was made to outmatch Alex in every way but the ones who designed it didn't have Alex there to draw comparisons from so some stuff may have been off.

The gasoline smell filled the air, as did the smoke from the wreckage. But Alex wasn't fooled, any moment now the man would walk out of those burning flames, and thanks to his thermal vision he could see just that. A huge streak of lightning was made blasting over to Alex who misjudged the speed that Mockinal held.

The sword was coming from the right, before it made contact Alex Morphed his arm into a shield luckily the electricity couldn't make its way through the protecting item but merely dented it as the sword slanted against it causing a huge shockwave of electricity. A small surge of electricity could still be felt in his body, he could tell instantly that if he failed to block that attack it would have been bye-bye. Alex sent his other arm flying into Mockinal's face effectively stunning him and decided to punt him off of his shield with a kick before he could recover.

This man was fast and precise, Alex would have to be smart if he wanted to win. Adapting to the situation Alex ran down the street and kept going and going jumping over taxis, buses, police cars, it didn't matter what got in his way. Nothing could stop him. Hearing a deafening boom from behind, Alex looks back to find that Mockinal was catching up. His feet were electrified and the ground beneath him cracked with each footstep like Alex himself.

"You're pretty fast, but running won't get you anywhere Alex." What made Alex angrier was the fact that this random stranger knew his name. It would be hard to trust Sarah now after this, and he wished to god that this guy didn't see Dana. "Who said I needed any help?"

Alex stopped in place grabbing Mockinal by the throat. It was time to execute his plan, transforming his body into armor he jumps a million feet into the air over dozens of apartments. For this plan he needed to be quick, the only problem was finding what he wanted to make it work. Mockinal got use to the increasingly high jumps and began to stab his sword into Alex but it was no use! His new armor wasn't making things easy!

"Let me go and fight like a man!" Mockinal screamed, his combat training never gave any sort of counters to this sort of thing so he was basically in huge trouble. Alex continued to jump and dash until he found what he was looking for, his arms changed again into the form of muscle mass. Thanks to muscle mass he was able to throw things much farther, and that's what he needed for an edge to the fight. All that was left to do now was actually throw Mockinal.

"See you next Christmas jackass". Mockinal gasped loudly when he was launched thirty or forty feet through the air flying at what seemed like jet speed. His body hit the water tower so hard that it exploded instantly. There wasn't even a single faithful second to recover because as soon as he got up he quickly learned that the water tower he hit was an infected water tower harboring a vicious hunter. "Oh shit!"

Alex watched in amusement as the hulking behemoth known as a hunter, landed blow after blow onto Mockinal. The attacks seemed to never end. Realizing the jeopardy he was in Mockinal raised his elbow and a flashing light emitted more powerful than any flash grenade out in existence. The hunter screeched in horror backing away unsure of what was assaulting its eyes. If it wasn't for his super human eyes Alex would have been blinded too.

Jumping over to Mockinal Alex delivered a clean cut into his armor with his claws, and then spun in place cutting vital machinery, blue blood spattered all over his clothes in the process. The pain Mockinal was feeling was immense, but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt getting his flesh cut off to be replaced. Alex clawed his way into Mockinal's body yet he was still unable to permanently decommission the man. Sighing hard while removing his claws from the strangers body Alex awaited for Mockinal to attack but the man never did.

"I thought it'd be nice to see you but it sucked that you didn't remember me." It was true, he spent years playing it out in his head what it would be like to see Alex again but he was disappointed when Dana and especially Alex failed to recognize him. But who could really blame them? His body had changed a lot, and it was a long time ago. Sucking up his pain Mockinal shot a laser from his hand aimed at Alex hoping to penetrate the armor but instead it missed clumsily. He was too weak to raise his arm.

"You sure did a number on me." Mockinal wasn't out of the game yet, he still had a few tricks up his sleeve. Alex quietly approached Mockinal with each step Mockinal's heart beat rose. Messing this up would be the end of him. That armor looked good really good, Either way Mockinal had ways of breaking down the infected. Alex was close now meaning that it was now or never.

"BT Missiles engage!" Small darts shot out of Mockinal's chest flying directly at Alex impaling him and releasing toxic Bloodtox on impact. Falling to his knees he regrets being so naïve to think that Mockinal was genuinely down. The tides had just turned, he was at the mercy of this cyborg. The deadly fumes entered his lungs and he coughed involuntarily, the stuff was pure poison to Alex and it was stunning him good whether he liked it or not. There was no chance of him being able to get up and fight now.

"You almost had me there Mercer." The cyborg walked circles around Alex who was still on his knees coughing. "It still pains me to know that you forgot about me but I can deal with it. My mission was to fight you to see whether or not my body was effective as a true weapon against the infected. Can't really say I won when I look pretty torn up right now." Mockinal gestured to his thrashed armor with blue blood leaking out. Alex was still alive and the man didn't seem to want him dead. Maybe he could trust the guy, but the fact was that he was a random stranger from Blackwatch. Pariah's eyes and ears were everywhere now to Alex, relaxation was a thing of the past.

"You sure I know you? 'cause I don't remember knowing anyone with the name Mockinal."

"That's my name, but my old name was Garrison. Tim Garrison." Mockinal stopped talking so that the memory could come back to Alex. And it did. 'Oh my god it's Tim'. Alex remembered all the times they use to hang out together and talk back in his second foster home. Things were great up until Alex got into yet another fight with one of the foster kids which resulted in him killing the kid. Alex had no choice but to frame Tim at the time. OF course these were the actions of the original Alex Mercer but it was still Alex's responsibility to make up for everything Alex had done.

"Now I remember, Tim you've got to believe me that if I could go back to change everything I would." Back on his feet Alex mutated back to his true form, his human form. "I believe you, it's in the past now Alex, but we've got bigger fish to fry. There's someone with a lot of power coming after you Alex."

"I know his name it's Pariah. Soon I'll be able to settle this drama and just kill him but waiting is all that I got right now." Alex walked up closer to Mockinal, and Mockinal inserted his sword into the sheath on his back. "No, there's someone with ties to Blackwatch after you. Someone with a lot of power, I don't know who this Pariah guy is but the guy I'm talking about is probably way more powerful."

Alex opened his mouth but closed it. What was there to say? It just got worse and worse. Pariah having connection to Blackwatch could ruin everything. His own girlfriend worked with Blackwatch there was almost no end to how much of a grip Pariah had over the city.

"Oh and this was Sarah's Valentine's gift to you, she wanted to give you the gift of having a worthy opponent."

"Remind me to break up with her when we get back to her house…. Don't tell her I said that!"

Pariah got off his throne and walked over to the lower levels of the hive. Things were getting tricky now. Any slight altercation could mess up his vision for the future, and he was partly curious as to where Greene went. Pariah continued to walk but stopped realizing that his mood was much better all of sudden. Not even a single urge to kill everyone in the room came to him like it usually did. That could only mean one thing….

"Commander Pariah are you alright?" His face was knit in a confused manner, it just felt like all the pent up rage he had from before was gone.

"No. I've been violent this whole time because naturally my hormones get enraged when seeing a male runner and meeting up with Alex months ago set me off big time. I think the rage is finally wearing off. That can't be good." Pariah loved being pissed off but he just wasn't feeling it today. He needed to feel on top of the world with an unquenchable bloodlust, it would make defeating Alex Mercer easier and sweeter.

"Pariah excuse me for my interruption but we've apprehended the location of Mercer and his contacts. As of now he's distracted almost a mile away from his family. A man named Mockinal assigned by Blackwatch is to blame for this. Because of him we were able to pinpoint the safe-house." A random elite member appeared interrupting Pariah's conversation. Normally he would have gone on a rant about respect but now he was in a better mood. Maybe now his leader skills could be demonstrated without any hiccups.

"Fucking fantastic! I was just thinking about seeing Alex again, have one of his friends killed within the safe-house. I want the rest of his little buddies to watch as their knight in shining armor dies. I don't care who you kill, just make sure they're dead. Once that's done pretend to withdraw from the safe-house and when he comes back ambush him. I want at least half of you over there you got that? The main objective is to potentially kill Alex if possible but if that Mockinal toaster machine gets in the way kill him too. I know I said I wanted to save Alex for myself before but now I'm not under the influence of my crazed emotions. I want to be smart about this." Pariah walked into the lower levels and just observed his troops. It felt good knowing that things were running smoothly.

Mere weeks from now after Alex Mercer's death Pariah would instruct the infected forces to covertly compromise congress. Before long he himself would be aiming for president of the United States of America where he would then launch warheads filled with the Backlight virus all over the United States. To the rest of the world it would appear like America was committing suicide but to Pariah it would mean that more zombies and other sort of infected creatures would be made, only a tiny amount of the population could transform into a runner so it was guaranteed to buck off a great portion of the population. From there it would be time to cleanse the world of 'normal' humans, creating a perfect and pure civilization with a one world government. A world with peace and order, a world where science wouldn't be limited because of weak humanitarian reasoning. The human race could finally evolve into bigger and better things. This was a dream Pariah looked forward ever since he was a small child brainwashed by Gentek and their associates. Only now would that dream come true.

Pariah in his wise age knew that if the earth kept going as is that it would eventually be destroyed. Human existence would be forgotten and that was something that pained Pariah. Runners were immortal but this planet wasn't, the planet depends on people like him to save it! 'What I'm doing is necessary, without me this planet will be forgotten in the mist that is space.'

"I didn't expect to find you here. I thought you were sitting on your throne." Elizabeth Greene walked up from behind him and stood staring up into his eyes. There was something off about him but she couldn't figure it out. Maybe it was the fact that he didn't have the usual killer look he wore every now and then. She wouldn't try her luck asking what it was though.

"I came down here to get the rest of my clothes. I don't like being shirtless when my hormones aren't nagging at me." Pariah spoke calmly almost caring as if he was sorry for being so rash before. His voice sounded extremely monotone and mature now all of sudden instead of the furious mood swing like personality he held from before. It was creeping Greene out but who was she to complain, this was an improvement. "Sometimes I really hate what I do when I'm like that but as an adult I have to take fully responsibility for my actions. So I want to apologize to you for being a pain in the ass." Elizabeth couldn't believe it, was he actually apologizing to her? No, this was some sort of trick and any second he would have his arms around her neck for ratting him out to Alex. Greene didn't know what to do so she just went along with it.

"Oh don't worry it's all good. S-so you're going to get your clothes now?"

"Yes and once I return we need to have a talk. I'm not liking the loyalty that you've demonstrated in the past, but don't worry I'm not in the mood to kill anyone other than Alex and his friends right now. Unless you are a friend of his, but even then I don't care."

Elizabeth's whole world shook in painful earthquake. She could kill Pariah right now if she wanted to but he just apologized, and he did carry some of her beliefs for the new world. His hormones were set off when he met Alex probably because Alex was close to beating him, but if Pariah had him killed he would be reasonable like he is now. It wasn't a real definite but Greene hoped it would turn out that way if Alex got himself killed.

Even with her loyalty called out by Pariah Elizabeth refused to believe in a future without her somewhat being by either Alex's side or Pariah's side. Losing both of them would be terrible, she didn't want to rule alone. The way of infected life called for her to have a partner and that was what Zeus and Pariah were made for. It just sucked real hard knowing that were was a possibility where she could end up alone and rejected. The thoughts brought on more stress when she begun to think about Alex and how she hadn't even told him about her vision of him by her side in the future. An absolute 'no' would be his answer.

Elizabeth broke from her train of thought and met up with her spy. Hopefully the woman had good news to deliver instead of the logically expected bad news. Learning to live with bad news was becoming a painful habit of hers lately.

"I have good news and bad news Elizabeth." Good and bad news? At least she had somewhat good news to help brace herself for the bad news. "Go on, I don't expect you to hold back on me."

"Pariah's control over the country has been growing exceptionally. Later on he plans on infecting the whole country. It appears that he wishes to kill off the rest of the populace so that he can dominate the world. The bad news is that he ordered Alex and his friends to be killed now."

Pariah was a good leader she could give him that much. His plan has actually worked thus far but Alex would be killed, and Greene wouldn't be able to deal with Pariah's mood swings. There was no saving Alex now, what was she to do now? Sit and weep? With more consideration Greene realized that there was nothing to be afraid of.

Alex Mercer was a survivor, a fighter, a man who perfectly skilled the art of adaption. She said so herself, he could adapt himself for anything. On second thought with more consideration she started to laugh at the idea of simple runners trying to take on Alex. They had no chance at all.

"You know I think Alex Mercer may win this little battle 7235." Greene said walking up to the throne room with her friend. She used her number identification instead of her real name to appear formal to the others. "How so? He's going to be massively outnumbered and without the right prior knowledge to the battle he will die. I'm sorry but that's the truth Elizabeth you have to prepare yourself for the worst so that when the worst does come you can handle it." It was foolish to have hope but Elizabeth carried some with her anyway, Alex was always prepared for a fight and if she knew him correctly he was probably getting ready to have one or was already done having one. He was prepared for anything and that's what gave Elizabeth hope.

"I'm not concerned with him dying. I'm concerned for his sister and 'friends'. I don't even know who his friends are and I'm still sorry them. If they die I don't think I'll ever forgive myself."

"You have a heart of roses Elizabeth. I don't want you speaking with Pariah alone so I'm going in there with you." The infected member announced jogging up to Greene to catch up. "You're the best, if it wasn't for you I would have never came back."

 **Hours earlier**

Sam hastily picked himself off the ground placing his hand on the alleyway wall. His face was badly bruised all in all his whole body was beaten about the same way. The smart move would have been to answer the cyborg's questions sooner. Instead he chose to be a wise ass, which appropriately got him beaten in return.

Looking past him his friend was lying softly amongst the trash bags, rats, and all the other forgotten trash matter thrown away ages ago. This was supposed to be their inexpensive last stand against the infected hordes but it was no use, if it wasn't for the cyborg they would have been brutally murdered. Sam continued to look at his friend unsure of whether he was still among the living.

'Sarah's going to kill me for what I did but maybe there's still a chance to redeem myself, to get back my honor.' Staggering to the left the dark soldier picks up his rifle off the ground. It had fallen before from the blast but it was still useful. Unloading the gun he refills it with a fresh new magazine. 'If that man kills Alex I will avenge him somehow, that I promise.' His legs felt like jello, each step was making the sensation worse but he had to get closer to Jason to revive him. Without his friend he wouldn't be able to make it.

"Jas" Two irritable coughs of blood were echoed along the alleyways. His throat wasn't the only thing hurting now but it was still a major problem. "Jason you've gotta get up. I knew you since my academy days in Blackwatch, don't bail on me man." His arms patted the grounded man but it was all in vain. But Sam continued to repeat this refusing to accept that his friend was dead.

Time was something that was bothering him now too. Running out of ideas fast, Sam decides to use his last ditch effort. 'Hey may or may not thank me for this, it's better than leaving him here.' Sam picked up his friends hand and held it for a good few seconds while looking outside the alley in case any infected were to enter. 'Here goes nothing!' **CRACK**. Snapping his friends pinky wasn't the best of ideas but it was the only way to revive his friend from the coma that he seemed to be in. If he didn't get up Sam would end up crying in his sleep reliving the memory of that time that he abandoned his best friend to die in some dirty alleyway.

Sam watched his friend closely and for a second he started to believe that he was dead. His first companion in Blackwatch was Jason. Jason had risked his life multiple times to save Sam, doing anything he could to save his friend. Meanwhile here Sam was failing terribly. The academy taught him not to feel for fallen allies, yet right now he was trying his best to hold in the tears he had. 'I don't deserve to cry, not until I'm sure that Alex and Sarah are safe. I don't want any more people to die because of me.' Sam shut his eyes tightly, it would be pathetic to cry now.

Standing up ready to walk away from his friend a single unwanted tear falls. He failed. This wasn't how today was supposed to go. If things went right him and his best friend would have went back to base to be greeted with the opportunity of taking a vacation. From there the two planned on spending their time with friends and family, the important things in life. Now Sam wasn't so sure he could ever face his own family again knowing that Jason wouldn't be able to do the same.

Walking without looking back Sam took one last look behind him. Wait! His friend! He was attempting to stand! Sam bolted backwards, his chest felt light and his body was given this new exhilaration gave him the power to run over to his friend.

"Did you break my finger?" His poor friend didn't even have the energy to keep his eyes open fully.

"No. Don't get up, stay down while I give you this prick of morphine." Sam said rushing to pull the needle out from one of the many pouches that his Kevlar vest had. "Christ, my boots got fucking jacked man." Jason complained unaware of the fact that his friend had just cried for him seconds ago. It didn't bother him, it only made him happier. Jason and Sam were a team, a dynamic duo of smiles and arrogance no matter how bad things got. This was a true miracle.

"Ouch! Watch where you stick that needle Einstein! And what are you smiling for, we're both screwed dude. We have no way of contacting base, and we're miles away from one too. Look around us Sam, there's tons of dead bodies here in this fucking alleyway and we were about to join the party. Those crows up in the sky are there for a reason." Jason was sounding a bit groggy and irritated but Sam kept his smile still. "We're not going back to any base. Right now we need to aid Alex by getting over to Sarah's house. She should have a way of contacting base."

"Sam you're really pushing it man. I don't want to die playing hero, I want to go home."

"Come on Jason you've got to have more faith in me than that. We're best friend's man. Sarah is our friend too, she would have done the same for us. We owe her for ratting her out." Sam was finished injecting the morphine so he threw carelessly to the side and got up waiting for his friend to get off the wet crusty ground.

"What the hell do you mean ratted out?" Jason was unaware of what happened during the events taking place after the blast. All he could remember was a streak of lightning take out all the infected.

"There's a cyborg after Alex Mercer, and he's heading for Sarah's house. We can't just sit idle like and wait for our friend to die."

Jason was getting too old for this. 'I'm going to grab you by the nuts and squeeze Sammy boy.' His plan was not only stupid but it was impossible. He couldn't really blame his friend, it was still a plan and it was better than nothing. That thought didn't help refute the idea that they were both going to get killed attempting to play out the 'bullshit' plan.

"We're in an infected zone, it will be hell trying to escape. Then you expect us to run on foot to all the way to Sarah's house? She lives across the city from her bro." Jason broke the reality to Sam, yet the man was still smiling like the true wack job that he was. "You're on morphine so our chances are better, and I still got plenty of ammo. It'll be a cinch. Plus after we break free from this infected zone we could just grand theft auto some fools car."

Jason remained on the dirty floor, his armor had failed him being that it was torn up. His rifle wasn't strong enough to take out a hunter. Most of all his hope was slim but his friend seemed so sure of himself. He had to trust him, it was what friends were for. Sam held out his hand to pick up Jason. 'I trust you Sam, don't get us killed.'

"Thanks for believing in me Jason, time to save us an emo superhuman and a stupid blond."

"Don't thank me, thank the fact that I have enough ammo to deal with this crap."

And just like that the two soldiers ran out guns blazing into the streets leaving the alleyway onset for Sarah's house.

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **Update on my medication; I've noticed that I've been gaining some weight thanks to these new pills so I have to work out even harder now. I also find myself unable to stay awake past nine. I'm also really bored easily now, meanwhile other times I'm afraid to do things that bring me joy. But what I'm more concerned with is that I rush things more. For instance, when I play games it's hard for me to really play without rushing and messing up. The same thing applies to things like reading, I just end up daydreaming and then realizing I've missed a few paragraphs. This problem is finding its way into my writing and I sincerely hope it's bearable. I've been getting use to the pills and so is my body. During the Sam and Jason sequence is when I was getting use to the pills, and I think I wrote that part the best out of all the others because I could actually feel comfortable writing. Let me know how you feel about my work so that I know what to do for the next few chapters.**_


	8. Chapter 8: The end nears

Jason ran through hell. The infection was really spread out real good in this neighborhood. There were Hunter screams everywhere they turned, and the sounds of either constant gun fire or explosions busting out not to far from his current location. The common infected could grab at them and there would be no last stand this time around. There was just too much going on to concentrate fully. Sam didn't let any of this bother him, he had a mission, a true mission. Save Alex Mercer.

Eventually Jason got use to all the chaos and accepted that if he died right now no one would ever know being that the infected liked to munch on their prey. Lowering his head Jason stopped looking to left and right and just focused on what was forward.

Back in the academy they were trained to run for however long they needed to. It would only take a few more blocks until they would escape the infected zone. Jason was behind Sam knowing that this was his plan and all. It just made him trigger happy knowing that at any moment his friend could die right before his eyes.

After almost an hour's worth of running they were far past the infected zone. Jason collapsed to the ground and Sam jumped in front of a speeding taxi. Busting out the glass window he unlocked the door screaming at the taxi-man.

"Get out the fuck out of my taxi." Flipping the man onto the street Sam took his place in the cab. Jason followed in pursuit hopping into the yellow vehicle before the crowd of pedestrians gathering up behind them could do anything to stop the hijacking. Sam stomped his foot on the steering wheel igniting the roaring engine successfully avoiding the cars placed all around them. Sam fixed the rearview mirror to get a nice view of Jason's face, he could see the fear in him but the courage was there too. It was something they both shared.

"We made dude, we survived." Jason cheered from the backseat. Looking back at Sam through the rear view window he sucked in as much air as he could and let out a humungous sigh. It would make sense to rest now, so that he could be on his feet ready to combat the cyborg when the time would come.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that man, don't get your hopes up yet we still got a friend to save." Sam said fixing his eyes back on the road. Turning the car to the right he continued to drive past multiple red lights almost getting hit twice. There was a group of people walking down the road but even that did little to persuade Sam to slow down. Instead of stopping to let them pass, he merely steered slightly to the left missing them by just an inch.

"At this rate we should be there within an hour or two depending on traffic."

 **Present time**

Sarah went back down at her table to finish off the rest of the tea she poured for herself earlier. If Dana was smart she would do the same.

"You're a crazy psychopath!" Dana was breathing heavily now, her brother was probably getting torn to shreds by that cyborg or it was the other way around. What Sarah did was pure evil, she set up this fight around Valentine's Day too making it even more despicable to Dana. Sarah continued to drink her tea until it was all gone. Getting use to Alex and his habit of dropping by one minute then disappearing the next minute wasn't actually that hard. 'Oh yeah Dana's still here.'

"What'd you mean?"

"You set that whole thing up didn't you? Don't lie to me, we're supposed to be family Sarah. What you did was cruel but I just don't get why you'd do something like that." Sarah pulled the chair next to her out more, and beckoned for Dana to sit by patting the cushioning. After Dana took a cautious seat Sarah was more inclined to speak.

"Yes I set the fight up, it was my Valentines gift to Alex." Dana didn't know how to answer to that. She liked Sarah but that was too much. Putting her brother's life in danger like that was no joke, it was serious. Alex Mercer was all the family she had, even her real parents didn't come close to the level of parental care that Alex had given her as a young child.

"You can't just set up a fight between my brother and some Blackwatch cyborg because you feel like it's a good gift. Because of you my brother could be dead right now, I could shoot you right now." Dana finished by shaking her head in frustration. Pent up rage was something she didn't like having and releasing it right now seemed like a bright idea but Sarah was part of her family now. Fortunately for Sarah, Dana didn't plan on seeing her threat through but it was still something she felt like expressing.

The door was still open from when Alex and Mockinal left. Sarah planned on getting up to close the door but a large crash was heard from outside. To Dana it sounded like glass shattering, but Sarah knew it was a car crash based on the tire roll sound that followed the crash. It seemed like someone had thrown a car, and to Dana's knowledge Alex was strong enough to do that. 'What now? If they're destroyed my street I'm going to kill them.' It was safe to assume that it was Alex and Mockinal fighting but Sarah could see through her window that it was Sam and Jason. The two of them exited the crashed taxi and trailed down the street. 'NO! Not these idiots!'

Running up the stairs the two of them burst through the door with their guns drawn.

"Where's that cyborg, I'm going to pop his head off."

"He won't catch me by surprise this time. I'm going to make him pay for getting blood all over my boots." Sarah couldn't really lie to herself she was happy to know that they were safe but this meant that they ratted her out to Mockinal. Sarah was going to get right up to slap Sam but she stopped herself realizing that they at least came back trying to save the day.

"You know it's rude to barge into people's homes? Especially after you rat out where they live to dangerous cyborgs that are hard to trust."

"He left? Did you tell him where Alex was, I think he's trying to kill Alex. We have to save him!" Sarah walked over to where Sam was standing and gently pushed his rifle to face the ground instead of having it high in the air ready to shoot. "Slow down cowboy, they just left. And it's fine, this was all a part of my plan. You can trust the cyborg not to kill Alex. Do as I say, you owe me remember?" A small creak of the door was heard and Jason redirected his gun to point and shoot at the location. Standing at the far end of the room was a woman holding her chest, there was a large gaping wound there. Dana wanted to help but the lady fell to the ground and it was safe to say that she was good as dead.

"Oh my god! You killed her! What the hell is wrong with you two?" Dana screamed running at the dead body cradling the woman's head under her hand. Death was something she unlike Alex couldn't stand. The lady looked to be in her mid-twenties which made Dana more upset. The woman was too young to have died like this.

"Don't blame me! Blame him, he's the one who shot her. She was also sneaking up on guys who were armed to the teeth." Sam was just about to go on for a few more seconds but before he could the glass windows shattered and from what he could tell it was more random strangers, meaning more random enemies. Jason and Sam lit up the room blasting the tangoes before any of them could reach them, it was easier said than done though seeing as how the random women were fast as hell. They continued to fire but more just kept pouring through the windows and door. Jason took a crouch position like he did in the alleyway, knowing that this could be a while.

"Sarah go grab a piece and get back down here." Sarah wasn't fully prepared for this sort of thing. Rushing upstairs she hesitates to enter her room realizing Dana was still downstairs. The powerful assault rifles lit up the room tremendously with the huge sparks of white fire they were giving off. Dana watched in horror as they shot down the intruders one by one. She didn't even have time to scream, instead she remained on all floors next to the original dead woman.

"Dana get up it's not safe for you down here." Sarah came back to retrieve Dana who was still oblivious as to what was happening. Sarah led Dana upstairs and ran down the hall into a room safe from the hoard of enemies below. Dana sat on the bed shaking, the echoing gunfire could still be heard from up here and she was beginning to feel her heart beat against her chest. This was the problem with being related to Alex, he had problems getting along with people. Knowing him these were probably enemies of his.

Dana was shocked by how composed Sarah was throughout this whole thing. Even right now the lady was rummaging through her closet for some random piece of equipment. The screams from below were all female so that meant the guys were still alive. It only made things weirder realizing that none of the screams belonged to a male. 'What gives? Who are these people?'

The whole closet wasn't clean or organized. Finding the box was hard but she managed to find it. Unlocking the box she flipped the chest open and heaved the massive gun into the air with her. It was the experimental m249 Blackwatch had designed. She earned it during her rooky days when she first started racking up medals for her field work. She knew a day like this would come, thank god she knew to be prepared for it.

"Dana I'm going back down there, don't do anything stupid!"

The women just kept running through the windows and door over and over again. They were fearless, it was as if they didn't care about dying. These things were sentient too, they reminded Sam of Alex but they were a bit weaker. What they lacked in quality they sure made up for in quantity. Sam ceased fire to reload knowing that if Jason wasn't here to fend off the oncoming intruders that he'd be dead.

The infected hoard were all dressed in black tactical gear only their arms and heads were exposed. What made Jason hesitant to shoot was that all these people looked like friendlies but they were just as powerful as common infected if not stronger than them!

"Is this your fault? Who are these people?" Sarah roared through gritted teeth picking off a few of the oncoming infected with her m249. Sam looked back but didn't stop firing, it was about damn time she got down here. Another second without her, he and his friend would be dead.

"No, I have no idea who these people are. They seem infected to me. This would be a lot easier if Alex was here to help."

His mind tingled for a brief moment and then shifted into a dual pain. Something was wrong, and Alex wasn't as sure as to what was. The pain was minute so that meant it wasn't exactly a problem but it was still there meaning it was a threat to him in some weird form. It would be best to let Mockinal know about this, leading him into a blind fight didn't seem like a nice thing to do. He still owed Mockinal for what he did years ago. The friendship they once had was over, but that didn't mean they couldn't be comrades.

"Mockinal something's up, I think there's infected back at Sarah's house. Be ready to slice and dice, I'm going to need you to cover me out there."

"That doesn't sound very good. We should head there immediately." Mockinal wasn't prepared for this. It was only supposed to be himself versus Alex. His mission was simple; find Alex, combat him, and report back to base. This altercation could really botch things up. 'Stay on the path of righteousness, Sarah and Dana do not deserve to die. They need our help.'

Alex ran with the passion of a hundred men. Fighting Mockinal so soon was such a mistake. He was leaving his sister with no experience with survival against the infected alone. It was such a careless mistake that Alex grunted at himself for not noticing it before. At least Sarah had some elegant shooting skills when it came to fighting the infected. That thought brought Alex a scrap of peace knowing that Sarah could protect Dana if anything were to happen. Guilt was something he didn't feel very often but he was feeling it now, he let his impulsive rage get the better of him and now he was paying for it.

Mockinal sped up to catch up with Alex. It was incredible being able to keep up with the athleticism that Alex carried. Mankind went a long way after the infected appeared. Yes it was forced in some way but that didn't stop Mockinal from appreciating the clever manmade tools designed to fight against the infected. It was revolutionary.

"Mockinal I know I did you wrong in the past but that's not who I am anymore." Mockinal slowed down but caught up again. It came from nowhere but it was something for him to work with. Rebuilding friendships was something Mockinal was a master at.

"Tell me Alex, who are you then? Because I took a look at your file and it wasn't so courteous in your name." Alex cartwheeled over a car and jumped over another one that got in his way. "After the outbreak I came to a few conclusions, and I've decided to change for the better. Let's just say that it would benefit everyone if I guy like me got in line and respected humanity without trying to destroy it."

Mockinal was going to respond and tell Alex that he had no reason to worry about the past but was stopped short when his augmented vision alerted him. 'Warning: Several infected individuals within the area. Warning: Three separate traces of gunfire have been detected.' If he could hear the gunfire Mockinal was sure that Alex probably heard way before.

Outside of Sarah house was a swarm of infected trying to make way into the house. From what Alex could gather the gunfire was probably holding them off, it was now or never.

"Give me your hand, I'm going to launch you at them." Mockinal trusted Alex and gave him his hand. Alex coiled his arm back and exploded his arm forward. Mockinal was hurled at sonic speed and was approaching the front of the house fast. He knew what he had to do to handle this.

Alex watched as Mockinal soared in the direction of the house. Lightning exploded and the sounds of a dozen female screams were heard. Balancing himself Mockinal chooses to equip his blade. Alex would do the same only he would choose a much bigger blade. Alex fell to his knees his body felt light, grunting softly he watched as his arm transformed into the blade arm that he so craved for. These people were going to suffer for trying to hurt his family.

The female attackers approached Mockinal jumping at him from all directions. Time slowed down for him, he was trained for this sort of situation. Mockinal spun like a yo-yo cutting through flesh as easy as paper. Electric sparks flew off him and by the time he stopped the bodies were all unrecognizable piles of morbidly charred carcasses. One of them managed to grab a hold of him and another was coming at him from the front ready to impale him with her hand.

The confidence she held on her face was a sure fire sign that these people were amateurs. Mockinal raised his foot and kicked shooting a spree of bullets into the overly smug woman. Her brains splattered everywhere and to his pleasure the infected woman behind him gasped.

"Spinal gunfire" the command was registered and the woman holding onto him sprayed blood all over his back when she was riddled with bullets. Two more infected dropped down next to him but he easily shot a laser at the first and quickly chopped the other in half. It was a blood bath.

Alex and Mockinal fought side by side. They had their backs to each other, formulating a plan for every single infected target that came at them. These people reminded Alex of himself when he first had his powers but weaker. Them being infected meant that they surely must have been runners, how did they find Sarah? Were they under Pariah's orders?

"Alex you get the one on the right, I'll get the one on the left."

Alex charged up his legs to jump and did just that. Pouncing at the target he grabbed her and threw her into the others. It was like bowling but more close and personal. More were coming for Alex so in the moment he grabbed the nearest car and threw that too. Alex didn't really know how Sarah's car looked like but if that one belonged to her he'd be in deep trouble.

Alex looked back to check on Mockinal to see if he was still in good shape but was surprised to see him shooting a boat load of lasers from out of his hands into what had to be at least ten infected. The robotic figure didn't even bother to move as he was only standing still throughout the whole ordeal. Each of the fallen bodies made hot sizzling noises and smoke was eroding from them. Alex smiled involuntarily, the two of them made a great team.

Alex kept fighting and began to notice that there weren't as many as before. Hearing the sound of someone's voice Alex looks back to house to see just who it was.

"Jason get over here Alex needs our help." It was a brave move but Alex didn't need outliers getting in the way. "No! Go back inside, we can handle this." The street was starting to look like a foreign warzone. Time and time again Alex was learning to recognize the art that war painted wherever it traveled. This place would turn to hell fast if the military were to get here, he wouldn't let that happen. It was time to end it all here.

"Mockinal get to high ground, I'm not going to hold back anymore." Alex didn't even wait a second after saying it. Mockinal braced himself for action noticing the tendrils emitting from Alex. Those reports he read on him warned Mockinal about this sort of thing, a heaping amount of lightning was emitted from Mockinal as he dashed backwards to a safe distance to watch.

Everything surrounding Alex, bodies, cars, etc. All exploded into oblivion. Having team mates was a nuisance thanks to moves like these. Alex wasn't meant for team work, he was meant for destruction and nothing else. Hoping that Mockinal survived Alex points his head frantically in all directions, he was beginning to worry until Mockinal fell from the roof and landed on his feet perfectly.

"Next time warn me a bit earlier ok?" Mockinal sheathed his sword with a big shit eating grin on his face. Alex was going to share the same kind of grin but he remembered that his family was still in the house. There was no time to mess around so Alex ran inside the house leaving Mockinal behind.

Inside the house looked terrible. Portraits were shattered on the floor, glass everywhere, bullet holes surrounded the whole house. Alex stepped over the shards of Alex and went deeper inside the house. The dining room table was flipped over and some of the chairs were destroyed, getting around them Alex was paranoid as to where his friends were.

"You're gonna have to get a maid or something, this place is a filthy mess!" Alex popped his head up and looked at the stairs. 'Was that Sam's voice?' Alex carefully avoided the disorganized stuff on the floor and went up the stairs. Moving slowly Alex entered the first room he saw. He hoped to god that Sarah and Dana were alright, Sam and that other guy didn't earn that much heart from Alex.

"Alex you saved my life, thanks man." Sam said looking at Alex from the floor. He was tired, spending the whole day running and shooting. He hadn't slept for a day too. Now seemed like the right time to get some rest.

"Yeah well I can take your life too if you don't tell me where Sarah and Dana are."

"They're in the next room." Sam closed his eyes and went back to sleep, Jason was already fast asleep. Alex didn't know it but if Sam and Jason died in that Alleyway Dana and Sarah would have died too.

Entering the next room Alex stopped for a second to look at Sarah. The woman ran at him clutching him tightly around her arms. This was what she was waiting for, she didn't want to lose Alex but she knew that he had to fight the infection. Alex wasn't expecting such a fast welcoming, it was sweet to know that she cared about him this much. He couldn't get any happier when Sarah let go of him so he could hug Dana as well.

"I'm so glad you're all alright. I don't know what I'd do if I lost you two." Family was all Alex had left, to him life meant nothing besides that. At first he thought it meant nothing but then as he grew older he came to know that relationships were important. The honest truth was that Alex tried his best to stray out far from relationships but they more often than not always clawed their way into his heart on rare occasions. Dying from that nuke taught Alex many things, some things he wasn't even aware that he learned yet.

"You don't have to worry about me Alex I'm a fully mature adult, Dana on the other hand doesn't even know how to handle a gun." Sarah's words were doughty and a bit harsh but Alex knew she was still grateful in a way. Alex knew she was right, she stood against the odds and fought to protect Dana the way he might have fought. What she said also reminded Alex that he was going to have to teach Dana how to shoot a gun sooner or later. Although holding a gun meant you were going to get yourself into a fight more than you'd like in the infected world, those pesky things gave too much mental power to over confident nuts.

"Says who? I'm going to be the best sharpshooter, you'll see. Once I join Blackwatch I'm going to learn how to shoot a gun in no time." Dana announced from the corner of the bed she was sitting on. For a second Alex was void. 'Did she say Blackwatch?' There was not a single fully fledged reason Dana could give him to excuse herself from saying something like that.

"Oh you're not going to join Blackwatch. Over my dead body you are!" It was crazy talk, Dana didn't even know half of the corruption that went on in Blackwatch. Those people were serial killers, cruel sadists that found a way to cover everything up with a single report. The mere idea of his sister joining a military group like that infuriated Alex to the point of smashing everything in the room.

"You can't tell her what to do Alex, if she wants to join Blackwatch that's up to her. You can't baby your sister her whole life. She needs to grow up and make decisions for herself." Sarah said staring at Alex with a scowl on her face. In a way she knew it was wrong of herself to convince Dana about joining Blackwatch without Alex in the know but that didn't mean he had the right to stop her from at least considering the option.

"You knew about this? Were you two talking about the involvement of my sister with a secret and shady military group behind my back? That's not cool Sarah and you know that." Social engineering was something Alex picked up from consuming so many guys. Playing his cards right Alex knew just what to say next. "If you wanna join Blackwatch that's fine, I understand the fact that you never wanted to get my opinion on the subject." Throwing his hands up in the air unpleased, turning around Alex was about to leave but Dana halted him to stop by grabbing his wrist. This was perfect, just the reaction he was planning on getting.

"No I care about your opinion. I'm sorry if you don't want me joining Blackwatch but it's got good opportunities for me."

"Dana you do realize that Sarah is one of the only females in Blackwatch who are well paid and among the elite. Most females don't even make it into the recruitment stages. If you try signing up they'll probably hand you a disagreeable desk job with way too many hours. Trust me, you'd be better off learning how to shoot under my guidance."

"Oh please Alex, you're so conniving. You're treating her like a toy. Why don't you stop being such an amoral shithead, and just let the girl choose for herself." Alex was going to flip out but his head sharply turned behind him. The noise was from outside the hall but Alex calmed when Mockinal came into view.

"- Am I interrupting something? Or am I still an unwanted guest." Mockinal said. His attention was fixed on Alex who looked a bit jittery. The man had his hands up in a half alerted, half combat stance ready to kill anything that got near him. It almost made Mockinal feel unwelcomed but it humored him in a weird way.

"We're kind of in the middle of something but since I'd like to change the topic now you can entertain us for the moment." Alex responded not caring to continue with the past conversation. He wasn't going to let this go, him and Dana were going to have a serious talk later on.

"Alex we have a problem…"

Mockinal exited the house with his sword ready to cut any danger that came his way, Alex followed behind Mockinal. Their combined strength would be enough to fight anything, and all this fighting was giving Alex the power gain he needed. He still wondered what the problem was walking down the stairs and back onto the street.

"These guys said they were sent from the c.e.o of Verizon."

"Hi Billy Mays here to tell you about oxiclean, having trouble getting rid of tough infected stains? Just throw oxiclean on that shit. It cleans even the toughest of infected."

"They're not interested in your arbitrary cleaning products you bearded swine." The curly hair man next to Billy mays seemed unpleased but turned his focus back to Alex and Mockinal.

"Are you Bill? Bill Nye the science guy?" Mockinal cleaned his eyes and opened them again but the man was still there.

"Don't test me today Nye. I'm not afraid to get blood on my shirt because I know oxiclean will clean that shit right off."

"Oh a wise guy eh? Consider the following, according to my hypothesis if you say that again there won't be enough oxiclean in the world to clean up the mess I'll make out of your dead body."

Alex wasn't going to let this ruin his day, instead of listening to them ramble on he instead chose to interrupt the two.

"What do you guys want?"

The men walked over to Alex. Mays gave Alex an oxiclean sprayer and Bill Nye shook his head.

"We're here to help you evolve."

"I'm already have evolved Billy Mays."

"Let me handle this Mays. You think that because you're strong that you can take on anything in life. I get that Alex. You have to understand though that we're not talking about physical evolution Alex. We're talking about mental evolution." Bill Nye finished his sentence looking Alex dead in the eye. Alex couldn't stand to keep the eye contact any longer. 'Mental evolution?' Physical evolution was hard enough, there was no need to complicate things any further.

"Listen to me Alex, there may come a time where you feel the need to control things but this is only a characteristic used by those in their weakest." Alex knew where this was heading but he let the man finish anyway, part of what he was saying sounded reasonable in a way and Alex thought what he had to say next could possibly help him even though he knew it was all going nowhere.

"People who quest for control are people who never reach a true end. There will never be a time in your life where you feel like you've gained complete control, the only real solution out there. And I'm sure you know what that solution is Alex." Bill Nye was getting ready to leave turning around but Alex insisted he wait by shouting back at him.

"If you think I'm the one scheming around Blackwatch and the military scratch that one off your list. You have me mixed up with some other guy." Alex said watching both Nye and Mays walk off into the distance. Rain began to fall. Mays pulled out an umbrella and started talking, it'd be rude to leave Alex confused without any answers.

"Oh we know Alex, we're just making sure you're not influenced by all these sudden changes going on around you." Mays followed Nye. The rain hit against them gently and Alex just watched them fade off into the distance. What they said made sense but Alex had no current plans on controlling anything. Maybe after killing Pariah he could establish some changes but Alex still remained unsure if that was what he really wanted in life.

Alex truly had no idea what to do with his life at the moment. Family was all he had so that was what he was going to stick with. Still he had to think about the future how could he not? Control was something Alex always wanted but his life would just lead nowhere, down the same road over and over. It would be an infinite struggle for the same thing and it would never end. Bill Nye knew what he was talking about.

Everything was revolving around him right now. Meaning everything was going the way he liked it. Pariah couldn't ask for anything more or less, things were going perfect. All he needed to do now was get a hold of Alex and consume him. Only then would Pariah be ready for the world's evolution.

In a way Pariah liked Alex. The two of them had the same life basically, it was shame that he had to die but this was only a basic rule of nature. The strong prey on the weak, and the stronger survive gaining the benefit of evolution. Pure excitement washed over Pariah, consuming Alex would give him so much power to the point of omnipotence. With that much power Pariah could have whatever he wanted. No one would ever stand in the way of his plans ever again.

"Commander Pariah the infected forces sent after Alex Mercer have been unsuccessful with their mission. Would you like me to prepare reinforcements?"

Those were the words he wanted to hear. Now would be the time to finally settle this. No more hiding in the dark. Pariah finished putting on his white hoodie and got up.

"No, I believe I should make myself scarce and leave this place before I waste anymore time. Greene I want to speak with you."

"What's up?" Elizabeth got off her throne and walked over to Pariah. She knew what he had in mind for Alex and his friends but that didn't bother her anymore. All she cared about now was the fight. If Alex won she would be pleased, and if Pariah won she would be pleased. The winner didn't matter, it was whether or not the winner would be a good partner.

Pariah never felt guilt in his life. It was a basic human trait he was failed to learn, but for once in his life he was feeling a strange new feeling. A feeling that was scaring him to death. Never before had he felt something like this before, there were times where he tried imitating the feeling to manipulate things but it was different now. Something was real hear.

"I want to say I'm sorry again. This is hard for me to say but I'm willing to make a change in myself."

This was unreal, this was someone who was obsessed with not being seen as weak. Yet here he was admitting to a fault of his and truly regretting it. Was he aware that her friend was still in the room? No, she wouldn't let this shake her view of him. To her, Pariah was only an object to be used. Forming a relationship let alone friendship with him was wrong. What would she do if he went out and died to Alex? Nothing, and that would also be her feelings on the subject matter too.

"It's fine Pariah, I want to hear how you're going to handle Alex." That was something that was worrying her. She couldn't have them both fighting nonstop, there needed to be an end.

"I plan on fighting him in time square now actually. I know he has some ties to the military so I want all the infected forces there too. Alex will catch wind of this operation and we'll be over and done with it when he comes running over."

"I don't know why I'm saying this but I trust you Pariah. Whether Alex wins or you win, I wish that at least both of you share the will to see to it that the infection wins. I want our kind to advance so well that we can possibly migrate to other planets one day. I know that you believe in the cause and for that I appreciate you."

"No one has ever spoken like that to me." Pariah shyly looked off to the side. "You're right if Alex does somehow win I hope he has the common sense to know that the infection is the way to go. I could work alongside Alex but it's too late for that now, and it isn't what nature calls for. What nature calls for is for us to fight. So please don't interrupt us when we fight Elizabeth. I don't want to have to kill you, before I didn't kill you because you were useful but now I see you as somewhat bearable as a person. Something I can't say for the rest of mankind."

 _ **Author's note: I'm getting close to the end here and even though I am losing interest because of what these pills are doing to me and my writing. I'm still going to try and perceiver and push on to finish the story because it would be terrible to leave a story unfinished in my opinion it's not good to lead someone on to just not finish. I promise to finish this story.**_


	9. Chapter 9: The battle begins

The night before was filled with paranoia and urgency. His main priority was getting Dana and Sarah to somewhere safe, a place where Pariah wouldn't be able to find them. No one had any ideas as to where they could stay. Jason and Sam's houses were a no go because Pariah had eyes on all of Blackwatch. Mockinal was an even bigger no because he was always under surveillance. Alex would have no choice but to resort to meeting up with an old contact. This person did several favors for him in the past, it was rude to come back for more but Alex had no choice.

Bradley Ragland was not only useful but he was a kind hearted man to whom Alex could trust. Back when Dana was recaptured from Greene Alex had left her over under Ragland's care. Thinking more on the subject Ragland was more than just a friend he was a valuable asset. The man saved Alex's ass tons of times.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I mean Ragland's a nice guy but we'd be asking too much of him by putting him in danger like this." Dana wasn't exactly on board with the plan. Everyone else was fine with the plan including Sarah but Dana felt a bit guilty. She had already depended on him in the past and it just seemed wrong to add more weight to his shoulder again.

"Dana don't doubt me, I know what I'm doing. You're just afraid of being nuisance, guess what you're not. I'll even pay Brad a king's fortune for this if he pulls through for us."

Sarah wasn't all too sure of herself about all this. Moving away from her own home was one thing but having to beg like some dog to a random stranger was another thing. Sarah wondered what she'd be doing right now if she hadn't met Alex but she stopped herself from thinking too far. He was doing this to help her, 'be grateful'.

The bunch continued to walk until they were greeted with the view of a reasonably lavish sized house. Dana and Sarah were both set down their bags to get a bit of rest. Alex noticed the shiver that Dana was giving off and decided it was time to ring the doorbell. Standing in the rain all day wasn't going to help anybody.

The door slowly unlocked and out from the door came Ragland. His hands took off his glasses and he cleaned them with his shirt before putting them back on. 'Him? What does he want?!'

"Ragland I don't meant to be a bother and all but it would mean a lot to me if you let my sister and girlfriend stay over. I know this is a bit sudden but I'm willing to pay you a hefty sum if you can let them stay."

Ragland couldn't believe his eyes. He had thought he had seen the last of Alex long ago but no, here he was right in front of him. Seeing Alex always amused Ragland, it was a sign that mankind had no completely failed when designing the infection. 'If he needs a place to stay then he's found it!'

"You don't have to pay me a single cent. You're welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like. Get in quick before you catch a cold in the rain!"

Ragland walked them into the house. Alex and Dana were a bit skeptical of his kindness but Sarah could sense the love in the man's heart. The neighborhood looked rich but this was something other worldly, the house looked more elegant than the apartment Alex had opted for. It was definitely way bigger too. The group followed Ragland deeper into the house until he stopped at a room.

"This is the guest bedroom, I hope it's to your liking." Dana threw her bags beside the bed and took off her raincoat. Knocking out on the bed Sarah wanted to do the same but she wanted to stay awake to talk with Alex once they were alone.

"I'm going to be in my room. There's a Tv in the living room over there if you need it but don't stay up all night with the volume too loud. Don't be scared to yell if you need anything." And with that Ragland was gone leaving Alex and Sarah alone. Alex assumed Sarah had gone in the room with Dana but he was wrong standing next to him was Sarah who at the moment was giving him puppy dog eyes.

"You know I can't stay here right." If he had the time for it he would race over to a Blackwatch base and consume a few troops to see if he could find anything on Pariah. Or maybe he would set out to find Elizabeth so she could tell him where to find Pariah. There wasn't any family time in his schedule.

"Please Alex, I barely see you and if you do this more often I don't think we can be together. All I want is for us to have time for each other." Sarah plead to Alex with a sad look on her face. Alex knew she was right but he had responsibilities to take care of. "Have it your way but I have stuff to deal with so I can't stay for too long."

Venturing over to the living room and Sat down and got cozy. Propping his feet up to stay on the coffee table Alex sighed. Having all this nonsense with Pariah on his mind was starting to get repetitive. It made him wonder how often Pariah would think of him in return. Sarah sat next to Alex and let her head fall on his shoulder clumping onto the warmth of his body. Not paying attention to the tv Alex closed his eyes and let himself relax for once.

"Alex do you think we'll get married someday." Alex put him arm around Sarah, hugging her but softly he was afraid of hurting her with the amount of power he held.

"It's possibility."

The tv flared up transitioning from a colorful cartoon to a serious and dual news program. The news man sat cozily on his chair with his fingers to his ears hinting that he was receiving information via blue tooth.

"We apologize for the interruption but the state of New York has been prompted to alert all viewers of Manhattan that the current city is under lockdown once again until a man or woman under the alias of 'Zeus' enters time square. We have been issued to give out this amber alert just recently. Our news team has no leads as to what's going on but what we do know is that several Blackwatch troops have been spotted in time square."

The tv screen changed camera to bird's eye view of time square taken most likely from a news chopper. There was a circle of light in the middle of shot and it was aiming directly at a gaggle of Blackwatch soldiers un-holstering their guns. Alex knew right away that this had to be Pariah by his keen instincts. Even with all the knowledge Alex possessed he had no idea what to do in terms of planning a strategic attack. What was he to do?

Alex thought long and hard but he couldn't think of anything. At first one would think that he could just assume the form of a Blackwatch troop but that would prove to be entirely useless. The reason for that was that Pariah would be able to sense him. Not only did that ruin any form of sneak attack but it also meant that Alex had to rely on not only himself but others.

"You know I have to go for real now don't you." Alex got off the coach and turned the tv off. Despite all the craziness in his life he still had time to give out a large yawn as if nothing was happening. This was terrible she had just gotten comfy with him and he was already leaving. That wasn't her only worry, he was going out to fight some monster that Alex seldom mentioned. Every time he spoke about the topic he seemed a bit unsure of whether he could really take down the problem. Her mind was racing over and over to different places. Alex could be badly beaten, Alex could be captured, and most of all Alex could die!

"It's a trap Alex, going there would be like walking right into a minefield." She wanted nothing more than for Alex to just sit back down and forget about everything.

"I can't run from this Sarah. You of all people should know that." Alex stubbornly replied. This was a fight that Alex was actually scared of. "I want to stay here with you, I'm might not return from this but I have to try." he had more things to lose now than he did before. Except now he had more responsibility on his hands. Alex knew he had to go to this fight, he owed New York and the only way to pay off his debt would be to stop Pariah from hurting anyone else.

"I know that you're going to get yourself killed if you go alone! At least let Mockinal go with you."

"No, this is my city, my fight. I thought about relying on someone else before but to tell you the truth I have to do this alone. No one else needs to get hurt from this." Alex walked over to the door, the blistering rain and thunder could be heard a mile away.

"You can't go. Alex if you step out that door don't dare come back to me. You can expect to be alone for Valentine's Day."

"I've been alone all my life. It won't make a difference if I'm alone now…. I love you Sarah, if I don't come back remember my smile, because you were one of the only people who got lucky enough to see it." Alex's hood hid his eyes with the shadow it cast. Sarah's heart shattered into a million pieces as she forced herself to watch Alex leave the house into a cold and stormy night. Weeping now a small tear fell down her cheek, if he died she would have no one. Sarah used to have a large family but almost all of them died tragic deaths. Another death would crush her, hope was something she didn't have but she still longed for the idea of having Alex to herself again.

"I love you too Alex. Come back to me."

Things were set up perfectly. Any minute now Alex would come to him. After all this time he was going to have his chance to rip open Alex's rib cage, or better yet snap his spine with his bare hands. The thought of Alex fighting him was more important to Pariah than anything right now. Anyone of his recruits could look him dead in the eye and see the pure lust for blood in his eyes. He wasn't in rage, he was in love. He was in love with war.

All his life it was fight, fight, fight. Never once was there a time for peace. Survival was the only thing that attracted the attention of Pariah. He could vividly see the Doctors still experimenting on him from when he was younger. The gruesome images and the sounds of his own screams were making Pariah smile. Not bothering to think about it anymore in fear that the thoughts would get stuck in his head like they used to, Pariah sat down on one of the lounge chairs that time square had to offer.

Looking up all around him he stared blankly at the rain coming from the angry clouds above. Streaks of lightning roared here and there. He had a feeling Alex would drop in from the sky but he wouldn't be able to see it coming due to lightning. It was a funny thought to have but Pariah was ready for anything. His skin was crawling with anticipation for Alex to get here.

Taking a break from that Pariah let his attention fall on the Blackwatch troops he commanded. Many of them had no idea what was going to happen. Some thought that they were all going to gang up on Alex. But only the ones who knew Pariah well knew the truth.

"Elizabeth are you going to cheer me on when Alex gets here?" Pariah asked when his eyes spotted Greene walking right up to him.

"As a matter of fact I won't. I'm not picking any sides but I'm open to both. I hope you can understand that." Elizabeth sat down next to Pariah. She was much happier now that he had his clothes on. The white hood and Black vest were definitely weird pieces of attire for a commander to have but that didn't bother her.

Pariah got off the chair he once sat on and ran forward. Something strong was approaching them. No doubt it was Alex but where was he? A lightning strike illuminated the sky, just as the sky was illuminated Pariah was hit in the back. Falling face first into the ground his body ached from the blunt force he had just endured.

The infected forces set their sights on Alex but Pariah held his hand which in turn made several of the infected look at each other confused looks. Recovering from the attack Pariah got up and smiled. Having them intervene would ruin everything. It was about damn time that he got here, he was getting bored of waiting. Alex wasn't all too pleased with the result of his attack but he was just happy to have gotten a successful hit on the bastard.

"Thanks for joining us Alex. You enjoyed an easy life, but me on the other hand I grew up in a cage and now look at me. I'm at the top of the world." Pariah held his hands up awaiting for Alex to respond.

"You're not going to achieve anything today, you're only going to find yourself in the same spot you were in before. Looking for power is an endless game. I know you're just like me, but that is what makes us different. I'm not going to waste my time on this earth." Alex pulled his hood further down to stop the rain from falling onto his face. Pariah's smile was disappearing and Alex could tell that things were going to get rough.

"I'm doing what I have to do Alex. There's no point in changing who I am and denying my true destiny. If you're naïve you'll dismiss that but if you're something more in life you'll realize I'm right." Pariah said with his hands balled up.

"Oh you're right alright. It's just that my destiny isn't the same as yours. No, I'm here to stop you from messing up the world. The infection was a failed experiment and we're nothing but rejects, I know what I am. Now stop talking and start fighting."

Pariah came at Alex with a dash and went in for a punch. A large slimy tendrils ripped from his arms and whacked Alex square in the face. The amount force behind the punch was amazing, Alex couldn't believe he was still alive with the amount of pain he was in.

Running backwards Alex jumped far from Pariah. Activating his claws he landed with his fingers impaling the ground ready to send a batch of ground spikes into Pariah. The ground exploded under Alex and from where Pariah stood giant spikes emerged from the floor impaling him sharply. Blood seeped from Pariah but he wore a toothy grin. The spikes retracted into the ground and Pariah landed on his feet.

"SO this is what yours is like? Try mine." Pariah's arms exploded and his new found arms resembled that of a hunters if they had more fearsome looking claws. The dangerous man sent his hulking arm into the ground and Alex jumped back sensing the attack. Instead of spikes emerging from the ground there were Hydras. All of them swayed viciously before disintegrating.

If he wanted Pariah dead he was going to have to try harder than this. What Alex needed right now was a plan. What could Alex use in time square to his advantage? Alex didn't have time to think about it when a Pariah dive bombed on him. The whole street caved in and the spectators around them all frowned trying to see into the dust clouds that were now forming from the debris.

Walking over to the limp body of Alex, Pariah got down on his knees and grabbed Alex's head. The punches started off slow and weak but over time Pariah was able to give off a twenty punches per second. With each punch a batch of blood splattered out over and over again. It was getting to the point where Alex couldn't see because there was blood in his eyes.

"I'm not dead yet Pariah" Alex booted Pariah in the stomach where Pariah buckled back several feet away. Alex got up and clawed into his chest with his left hand, and spun in a circle cutting deeper into Pariah with his right arm that was taking the form of a blade arm. The cuts were deep but they didn't seem like they were doing much to disable the man. Pariah coiled his fist back but Alex uppercut him with his blade arm which tore through his skin like paper.

Pariah was still standing. He was a tough one Alex thought but Alex knew he couldn't keep this up forever. Alex was gasping, his head was killing him right now. Warning him that the guy he was staring at was serious business. Alex was going to smile at the damage he did on Pariah until he took off his vest and hood. Alex confused, backed away and got at a good distance to watch what Pariah was doing. He wasn't ready to fight again.

Pariah removed the last article of clothing on his upper body. There were bloody scratches all over his body. Some deeper than others but it was still a gruesome sight. Pariah wiped sweat off his forehead off with his hand and looked Alex directly in the eyes. Pariah flexed with a deep grunt. All in an instant all the wounds on his broken body were magically gone.

"My body is more versatile than yours Zeus. I'm the strongest life form there is on this dirt of a planet. Once I'm done killing you I'm going to destroy this precious world that you call home…." Pariah sat down on the rubble looking at his fist that was holding onto a piece of rock from the destroyed street "Then I'll rebuild it from scratch." Pariah finished off and crushed the rock in his hand.

Pariah threw the dust in his hand into Alex's eyes and transformed his arms into claws again. The man pounced onto Alex and clawed at him ferociously, Alex tried to fight back with his eyes painfully closed from the dust. From afar it looked like a crazy cat fight was happening. Both were trying to scratch the other while attempting to avoid getting cut up at the same time. Pariah landed a lucky slash on Alex's throat and punched him out of the crater that were both in.

Pariah got out of the hole and patiently walked his way over to Alex's tired body. Picking him up Alex couldn't move his body he was too weak to move a muscle. He was beginning to lose faith in his self. 'how the hell am I going to beat him? There's no point in trying, I'm already beaten.' Only one of his eyes remained open, the other was still regenerating.

"Something wrong there Alex pal? I think a nice refreshing drink would lift up your spirits. What do you think?" Pariah grabbed a hold of Alex in a head lock and pointed his head in the direction of a time square advertisement. 'You've got to be freaking kidding me.' On the screen was a flashing ad for Cocacola. Pariah snapped Alex's neck and then smashed his body into the ground, picking Alex up by the legs Pariah spun in place until he appeared as a tornado to the spectators.

Alex was thrown faster than a speeding bullet at the advertisement. His body his the screen like an anchor. Electric gigawatts travelled all throughout Alex. His body remained inside the screen for a few seconds but gravity slowly pulled Alex towards the earth. Alex fell multiple stories down until he landed on his head splashing onto the rainy floor.

It was over… Only one of them was left standing now. In the middle of the street lies the body of Alex Mercer. Unconsciousness fades over him, the rain stream of water rushing down the street mixing with his blood does nothing to wake him. The crowd stares intently at the body waiting for it to move but alas it does not. It was clear who the winner was. Pariah was getting ready to finish the job but a missile shot right into him.

A smoke cloud erupts from the initial blast zone. Everyone is shocked but too confused to do anything. An awkward silence is felt but that quickly ends when a massive choir of bullets is heard hitting multiple infected. What's this? An ambush!? Pariah has no time to figure it out when another missile strikes him again in the chest.

Everyone is running rampant. Helicopters firing from above, jets spraying their bullets at whatever target they can find, tanks rolling in and blasting nonstop, infected jumping up and down dodging oncoming fire. From a bird's eye view it looked like warzone.

Pariah got off the ground and searched for the poor soul who dared to shoot at him. He was going to make them wish they were never born! A giant flare was shot up to right, who shot it? The man who dared to shoot missiles at Pariah was aiming his arm at him with a small tube emerging from out of his forearm used to fire missiles. The man was inhuman, no he was half human!

For half a second they lock eyes. Pariah could feel the rage in him building up. The filthy cyborg interrupted his battle and now he was going to fight him. It was unacceptable. The cyborg looked behind him at two opposing Blackwatch forces. The two of them appeared to be male so Pariah knew they weren't on his side.

"Jason… Sam… Go get Alex. I'm handle this one." Mockinal announced with a strong voice. He had never risked his life for anyone else before but the sudden rush was hitting his heart now. It felt tremendously exciting and thrilling.

"You have some nerve trying to ruin me. I am going to end you and that hooded friend of yours." Pariah was flexing hard now. The amount of pressure and strain he was putting on his body was giving him a headache but he didn't care he was sick of all the crap happening right now that was ruining his plans.

"God you're even more edgier than Alex. How about you put on a shirt before I cut you in half Linkin Park." Mockinal was going to have no remorse for this coward. This was someone with too much power in their hands, and lucky for Mockinal he was designed to takeout infected individuals no matter how strong they were.

Sam and Jason ran forward hoping to avoid getting grappled by the infected, or hoping not to be blown to smithereens. Alex's body was still on the ground. Sam got down to his knees and grabbed Alex and started shaking him. 'Get up you emo shit. If you don't this'll all be in vein'.

Nothing, he was still dead lying sound asleep on the ground. Deep inside Alex there was a glimmer of the past. Dana was crying in Alex's arms. Just before she had been teased and bullied but Alex fended them off. Living together in these foster homes were hard, constantly being shifted, no one wanting to adopt them. Dana's only comfort was her older brother keeping her safe.

"Alex?" Dana said sniffling loudly. "Why do we bother trying at all?"

"We bother- We bother because we can Dana. We're human and that means we have more responsibility than any other species on this planet. I bother because I made a promise to always take care of you. No matter what happens I will always be there and I will do my best to do the right thing."

Alex awoke. The rain was pouring down hard. He had thought there were people calling his name but there was no one by his side. 'Pariah! I can't give up now, I have to keep on fighting.' Alex attempted to get up but coughed up blood falling to ground. The wet floor wasn't helping at all. 'I have to do this, this is my responsibility.' Alex tried with all his might to get up and made it on one leg. 'Looks like a war's going on. Hope it's not too late for me to rejoin the party.'

 _ **Author's note:**_

 _ **Even though I'm not pleased with what's happening to my writing I'm still happy that I have the chance to share this with you guys. I know my writing has changed spectacularly but all I can do is push on. Let me know how you liked this chapter. And what I can do to improve for next time.**_


	10. Chapter 10: A cyborg's end

Ignoring the impending world war that was about to start around him. Alex uses his infected vision to scout the area. His senses are flaring up warning him not to move seeing that there's danger at every corner of time square. There isn't a single shred of doubt in what he's doing. Alex knows what he has to do.

Not finding anything Alex continues to search but this time he runs down north of time square. There! In the center of it all was someone heavily infected. Alex could tell him apart from the rest as his senses were tingling now, almost screaming for him to run away. He has no choice but to do the exact opposite of that and to fight the beast.

Turning off his infected vision Alex cringes at the sight before him. Standing tall ready to face Pariah is Mockinal who at the moment is jaw dropped at the fact that releasing Bloodtox against Pariah has no effect! Alex has no idea how this is possible but he still keeps his composure. 'So what if he's impervious to Bloodtox, doesn't mean he's impervious to me'.

"I'll admit you're stronger than you look. But no one can get past this blade of mine." Mockinal spoke with a sly grin on his face. Pariah definitely wasn't having it by devious frown he was putting up. Whether he was pissed at the fact that he was currently on his knees, or was it the fact that his opponent was talking all big to him?

Alex casually strolled over to Mockinal, he seemed to have things under control but not once did he refrain from his previous fighting stance. Letting his guard down near Pariah wasn't on his bucket list. 'Even with Mockinal here I still don't know how I'm going to beat this guy… I can't afford to lose'.

"You're up finally, could have used your help ages ago!" Mockinal said rather disappointed, not even bothering to look away from Pariah.

"Well I'm up now, and it looks like you've got it handled already without me…. Thanks for the help though, how did you know I needed it?" Alex couldn't help but feel ashamed that he needed help for this. At the same time he was glad to have a friend's help with all this.

"Sarah called me, told me you needed help. And me being the nice guy I am I came all the way over here to help you. And you don't have to thank me, what are friends for." Mockinal and Alex both shared a smile. It was the kind of the smile the two always use to share back in the day. Refocusing their attention onto Pariah they definitely noticed that things aren't looking too good.

"You two have no idea the amount power I have, let me give you an idea as to how much you two fucked up…"

Thunder rages on in the background amongst the sound of the falling rain. What gains their attention the most is the sounds of cracking bones, flesh being ripped apart. Standing in front of them is a hulking beast carrying giant muscles, claws, and giant barbs protruding out from it on multiple places.

"And here I was thinking that this was gonna be easy" Mockinal complained.

"Shut up and run!" Alex screamed. Jumping with everything in him Alex manages to dodge a flurry of attacks from the beast as it hits nothing but the air in front of it. Mockinal slides under the thing's legs and impales it from behind but it's no use! The beast remains unaffected!

Steve watches the screens used to spy on Manhattan in horror. Even after meeting Alex and learning the full extent of his abilities he has no idea how Alex will be able to defeat the giant beast. He remembers earlier how Mockinal called for his assistance to aid them with backup but this wouldn't be enough. Everyone around him is giving orders to someone over the phone but it's futile they won't make it. Picking up the phone next to him and dialing as fast as his fingers possibly could he contacts the upper echelon of government officials.

"Get the U.S military over to Time Square now! We have a code Red!" Steve demands at the top of his lungs almost spilling his coffee in the process. If Alex was going to beat this thing he was going to do it with help, and Steve would make sure of that.

"Are you shitting me, we can't just send all our men over there because you say so!" The entirety military couldn't just be deployed in a matter of seconds, it would take a lot of power for that to happen. Power that Steve didn't have.

"Fine then at least send some air strikes over there."

Elizabeth Greene stares hysterically at the beast engaging Alex and Mockinal in combat. There's constant line of fire of bullets hitting the beast but it's not like that would help. Choppers in the distance are firing at the thing, but tanks and jets refrain from bombing the beast in fear of the splash damage hitting Mockinal and Alex. Both of the two seem to be doing nothing but jumping and dive rolling out of the reach of thing at the moment, they have no plan on how to attack the beast. 'Since when could he do that?! That's not fair they won't stand a chance!'

"You distract him, I'm gonna find something to take him out." Alex suggests. Mockinal doesn't drop his sight on the beast and only nods. Alex looks all around but nothing comes to mind.

"Well do it quick Mercer I can't hold him off all by myself!"

Alex continues to scan the area until he spots a Tank. Alex grabs the main gun on the Tank, and pulls it ripping off the turret ring from the Tank. 'This'll work'

Getting back to the fight Alex hits the beast with the new found weapon as if it was a sledge hammer. About to hit the beast again Alex aims it for the head but before he could slam it down the beast slaps him several feet away. Alex hits the wall and an explosion of debris is made.

The beast runs for Alex but Mockinal shoots the beast in the eyes with his knuckles which signals a giant guttural scream. Mockinal jumps on the thing's back and stars punching it's head with his fist.

"Punch v2 activate!" A shroud of electricity explodes every time Mockinal hits the beast with his robotic fists. Alex sees this from afar and slowly gets up out of the walls. Bits of debris fall and hit the floor as he removes himself from the wall. Alex watches as Mockinal continuously hits the beast with the thing scrambling to take him off. 'This is my chance, while Mockinal's attacking him, the thing's stomach is open for a devastator attack.'

Alex aims both his hands at the beast and fires off two giant tentacles from out his hands sending them right into the beast's stomach. The tentacles come out from the back of the thing's back and a large shriek is heard.

"You get double points for that Alex." Mockinal jested, the beast somehow manages to regain it's composure and picks up Mockinal and throws him at the direction of Alex. Mockinal collides with Alex sideways and the two fall to the ground.

"The game's not over yet."

From out of nowhere the beast is hit with a barrage of missiles from the sky. Mockinal smiles knowing it must have been Steve's doing. The beast appears to be thrashing around in pain, and Mockinal sees this as an advantage and runs at full speed towards the beast. Alex eye's widen, his head aches in massive amounts of pain warning him about the oncoming attack but before Alex could warn Mockinal it's too late.

Several tentacles erupt from the beast and at least a good four sharply stab into Mockinal rendering him unable to move. For a few seconds he is held in the air by the tentacles, but when they return to the beast Mockinal falls to the floor completely neutralized.

"MOCKINAAAL!" Alex shoots his hand forward, his child hood friend remains lifeless on the ground. Tears of hatred and self-guilt stream down Alex's face. If only he could have been able to warn him, but he was just too fast.

Alex knew Mockinal ever since he was little and now he was gone. The beast points itself at Alex and charges for him like a football player but Alex Jumps over him, and sends his whipfist onto a helicopter flying overhead, and slams the heli down onto the beast earning himself a giant explosion. Alex dive rolls forward and catches two helicopter blades. Alex from there jumps onto the beast's back and stabs one of the blades into the thing's knees piercing right through it and into the ground, and then uses the other blade to do the same to the other leg.

"It ends here Pariah!" His arms morph into giant hammer fists. Alex begins to wail on the beast's face, just smashing it over and over. There seems to be no end to the onslaught of punches that Alex is dishing out but he stops when a familiar voice is heard.

"Alex I'll handle him, go take care of your friend!" Elizabeth calls out. Alex realizes that there may still be a chance to save Mockinal and jumps off the beast, and lets Greene do her thing. Running over to Mockinal Alex clutches his head in his hands.

"Please please please be alive." Alex pleads with a heartfelt amount of concern. Mockinal's eyes remain closed and he slowly opens his mouth.

"F-forget me" coughing up blood Mockinal continues "you were always a good friend, finish this for me." Mockinal gives off one last breath before leaving this world. Alex looks up into the sky unable to accept that fact that his child hood friend is dead.

Alex squeezes his fists so hard that his knuckles crack. Tendrils swirling all around Alex, it veils his whole body until he himself feels the pain of his bones breaking apart and his skin being ripped apart. None of that masks the pain he feels inside for the loss of his friend.

From the sidelines Greene sees this and is infuriated. 'How come none of my transformations are this intricate or complex?' All she could do was turn into a stationary ballsack. Elizabeth could tell it was time to bud out and let the two fight it out as they please.

Both creatures took a look at one another and slowly walked up to each other. This boxing match was just about to start and Greene didn't feel herself in the mood to transform. Rather deciding to let the two fight out she stares eagerly awaiting for one to attack the other.

 _ **Author's note: Yes I decided to end it here. Sorry for how long it took me to get this chapter out, and sorry for how short it is. Let me know if you want Mockinal to live or not. And thank you all for the support.**_


	11. Chapter 11: The final chapter

Titan facing titan. God vs God. Stepping toe to toe the two figures began to battle it out. Pariah sent a barbed elbow into the chest of Alex. Blood gushed out from the wound but Alex wasn't spited by this, instead of backing down he rebelled with a furious head-butt into Pariah's face. Pariah is stunned by the amount of power Alex has, surely he's not stronger than he is?

Deep down inside Alex sets his mind on one thing. Something he always had to get, something people always forced him to have, and something he always loved. Revenge. Falling into the abyss of sorrow and hatred Alex has no choice but to let his more primal side out. A deafening roar is sounded, everything else seems so silent in comparison.

Pariah sets his foot back and pushes forward. No one can make him feel pain like that and get away unpunished. Pariah could feel his heart beating fast, he never recalled having this much fun in a long time. Reminding himself to not get too arrogant Pariah flung his arm ready to claw at Alex's face.

Ducking and shooting back up Alex quickly revolted with a swift upper cut into Pariah's jaw. In a desperate move to hit Alex back Pariah went in for a jab but Alex with the quickness of a cheetah avoided the jab and positioned himself behind Pariah. If Alex was lucky this next attack would do some serious damage. Placing his hands around Pariah's stomach, Alex lifted Pariah off the ground for a mighty suplex. Hitting the ground with the force of a jackhammer a brutal shockwave was given off blasting Greene to oblivion, causing tanks to topple over, and causing both Marines and infected to fly away.

Pariah was stunned from the attack and Alex was going to use this to his advantage. Getting off the shattered ground Alex picks Pariah up and grabs him to the curb, picking him up by the ears and places his teeth on the curb Alex was finally ready to dish out some fine justice. His foot stomps down exploding the curb but Alex continues to kick over and over repeatedly.

All this fighting reminded Alex of that time he had spent on that ship fighting the supreme hunter. It was just as barbarous and heart pounding. Pariah kicked Alex on his left leg causing him to tumble backwards, Pariah folded his hands and slammed both of them down, rolling out of the way Alex gets back up and jumps away as far as he can.

To all the others it appears as if he's running but no, in order to win this he has to play it smart. Dropping down Alex caves in yet another street. Crawling out of the debris Alex hurries down the road until he finds an abandoned car. This will have to suffice. Breaking the car in half and crumbling each half into a ball, Alex punches his hands into both balls. Turning around sharply Alex sees that Pariah just on time.

Racing forward Alex slams one fist down onto Pariah's head, and follows up with a high knee into his face. Pariah falls back onto the floor and Alex dishes punch after punch. Each punch destroyed bits of the car attached to his hands.

Elizabeth Greene tries with little effort to push herself off the ground. From this point of view she can't see where Alex is, but she can feel him. Her body tells her to pace herself down the road. After a considerable amount of time Greene was able to spot the two.

In the middle of the street stood Pariah. Pushing Alex back, Pariah sent his fingers into the road pulling out a heavy chunk of debris. Pariah kicked Alex between the legs, and lifted the debris over his head before slamming it down on Alex's head. Pariah jumps into the air and lands on his elbow onto Alex's throat. Unable to breathe, Alex chokes even further as Pariah places his foot ontop of Alex's neck.

'That's not good, time to bail Alex out.' Using the environment around her, Greene rips a street light from out of its post and runs towards Pariah. For a second she wonders what will happen if she is defeated and Pariah is able to kill Alex. Surely Pariah will have no mercy for her. Well that's too bad she thinks as she nears closer. Swinging the pole with all her strength as if it were a baseball bat Pariah is hit in the back. His spine is shattered giving off a cringe worthy crackle.

"He's all yours Alex!"

Alex in this primal state was somehow able to understand Greene and got up and picked Pariah up off the ground. He could tell his back had received a considerable amount of damage from that attack from Greene so that's what he was going to hit next. Alex slammed Pariah's spine down on his knee. The crunching sound was pure joy for Alex's ears.

Alex got off of Pariah and watched his lifeless body. For a brief moment it was silent until it started to convulse and jitter. A plethora of tendrils were dissolving the body and soon the man that was before was back. Pariah lay in the middle of the street naked and beaten. This was it. Alex had managed to beat Pariah, and managed to save New York again. After some time of heavy breathing and staring at the body Alex reformed back into his original form.

Greene noticed that Alex was thinking of heavy and decided to help him make up his mind.

"You should consume him, it'll make you stronger." Alex took her words into thought.

"I think it'd be better if you consumed him." Alex didn't want to have the conscious of Pariah in his body. Having to constantly relieve his memories and hearing his thoughts and all that. Not only was Alex having second thoughts about consuming Pariah but he felt that it would somehow corrupt him. He was seriously getting some bad vibes off the dead body.

"You've got to be kidding me Alex, just do it nothing bad will happen. If anything does I'm right here with you." Elizabeth somewhat felt bad for Alex. After all he has been through one of his closest friends ends up dying because of something he couldn't prevent. Maybe consuming Pariah would make him feel better, she knew it would.

"Ok fine I'll consume this miserable piece of trash but I'll do it in front of every"

" **coughing fit**. Alex whatever you choose to do. I want you to know that you can't stay in the middle forever, there's going to be a time where you will have to decide whether you're anti infected, or pro infected. I once was in your shoes a long time ago…"

"Save yourself the breath and stop talking Pariah. I don't want to hear your mouth right now after you killed my friend!" Alex screamed. Pariah understood why Alex was angry, but what he had to say was way more important. He didn't want Alex to end up losing himself like he himself did ages ago when he struggled to choose which side he was on.

"Do me a favor Alex? When you get home pick what side you're on, don't waste your life as I did." And that was that. Pariah gave off one last breath and it was over. Alex was free to do whatever he wanted with him now. In a way Pariah's last words were meaningful but Alex was more concerned about his friend Mockinal. All this death, all for nothing.

"You were saying Alex?" Greene asked with an unapologetic smile.

Returning to time square where an ongoing battle was still taking place. Alex carried Pariah in his hands. It made him wonder if this was how he was going to die. Would someone eventually over power him one day and kill him? Who knows who cares Alex thought, all he could focus on was now.

Greene walked to the center of the battlefield and called out for her women to stop attacking.

"Everyone stop there's been a winner!" For a second there was still explosions going off and bullets being shot off but after sometime everything stopped.

"Get everyone down there to stop firing!" Steve ordered with a childlike smile sprawled against his face. He looked as if he were ready to open a Christmas present up.

"What why?" John questioned furiously, at first he didn't get it but when he saw Alex his face lit up with joy. "OH YEAH BABY!" A stack of paper work was flipped into the air as John jumped happily into the air.

Alex Mercer stood at the center of everything. A place he often found himself in quite often. This was something he never thought he'd live to see. A bunch of super humans amongst military fighting each other all because he unleashed the virus by accident. It was a silly thought to be had if he were to imagine it back then, but now it seemed all too real and scary.

"As some of you may know the military and the world hates the infection, and the infection hates the world and military. I once thought that the two sides couldn't co-exist with each other, but I was wrong!"

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. What is he saying? It was crazy talk. Many of the tanks from before stopped and some even had their hatch open up so the marine could come out and listen. A few helicopters were parked with their windows opened up so they could listen too.

"Some may think that the infection was a horrid creation with no real benefit. But look at what it created, some of the most advanced beings this planet has ever seen. If we could just stop trying to kill each other we could find a way to help everyone evolve. Not just physically but mentally." Alex finished off and everyone began to cheer and clap. This was a feeling he had never felt before, and that feeling was acceptance.

"Consume him!" Someone echoed from the crowd, and soon a bunch of chants were heard.

"consume, consume consume, consume" Finally Alex let the body be absorbed into himself and the crowd went wild. It was as if fireworks had went off. Alex didn't know what to think his for a second he felt nothing but then from nowhere his body erupted into a field of power. It was almost too hard to bear with.

"What's happening to me?" Alex questioned.

"Relax your body's adapting, give it some time."

The marines and infected came out from their walls of insecurity and fear and began to talk amongst one another. During this time Jason and Myers ran over to Alex to congratulate him on his new found victory.

"Sweet moves Alex, you fucking did it man" Myers said with his palms on Alex's shoulders with a toothy grin. "Thanks for nothing Alex, because of you Alex this battle happened, and I got blood all over my new suit!" Jason joked.

"What'd you mean? If you don't want blood go home, this is modern day New York, there's blood and guts being shed everywhere!" Alex jested back.

"Alex, Jason and I are gonna try to get it with that hot short haired chick I saw over there, if you need anything call me alright? C'mon Jason it's time we get laid, woohooo!"

"Don't pressure her into anything or else she might kill you. That's not a joke by the way." Waving goodbye to Jason and Myers Alex couldn't help but smile. Maybe this adventure wasn't totally a waste of time seeing that he made a few friends along the way. After all this they could probably get some drinks and hangout together.

"Well you certainly have some colorful friends. Alex I have something to ask you." Greene said from behind Alex. She couldn't lie to herself she was scared but she wanted to ask him anyway.

"What is it?"

"Would you help guide a New infected world with me, it would mean a lot ot me and all , I just have to say that I-"

"How about you help me guide my new world." Elizabeth didn't quite understand and tilted her head.

"What new world would this be?"

"A world where infected and humans could live amongst each other. A world where we use the virus to cure disease and help aid the weak. A world living in peace." Alex refused to pick a side, if it was one thing he learned it was to surpass your enemies and to find ways to become better than they were and that was what Alex was going to do.

"You know… That doesn't sound half bad actually. Take care of yourself Mercer, I'm gonna head back to hive for some shuteye because I'm beat. See you soon."

Where would he go from here? Alex thought for a good few seconds. Until someone put their hand on his shoulder. 'huh? OH – MY - GOD….' The man wore a white dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, and a partially open collar. He wore black dress pants and a black pair of oxford shoes. He was even wearing his sunglasses! He was in his younger years too somehow.

"Corey Hart? What are you doing here?"

"Hello there Alex, the C.E.O of Verizon has asked me to meet you if you were to prevail but the fact that you got everyone to stop fighting is pretty rad too. Great job my man."

"That means a lot coming from you sir!" Alex was always a fan of Corey Hart and his work. The man was a legend. Everything about him screamed perfection.

"No need to thank me. You've done the world a ton of good today, so I've decided that the world should do you some good. I will grant you one wish Alex, anything in your wildest dreams will come true." Corey Hart said with a wide smile with his hand still placed on Alex's shoulder.

"Wow! This can't be happening! Umm let's see…. Hmmmm…. Oh! I want you to bring back Mockinal! I want him to come back to life!" Alex giddily jumped up and down like a pubescent child and Corey Hart Nodded in approval.

"You made a fine choice brother, your wish is my command." And just like that Mockinal appeared out of nowhere next to Alex and Alex hugged him tightly.

"Err, you're crushing me", "oh sorry Mockinal, I won't let you die ever again."

"How am I still alive?" Mockinal questioned. All he could remember was a giant sea of nothing but darkness. It was horrifying, but seeing as Alex was as happy as ever can be, he too shared a bit of the joy.

"That doesn't matter, let's go home. Thanks Corey Hart you're the best." Alex cheered with full-fledged astonishment.

"Don't sweat it Alex" Corey Hart pointed his finger with his thumb up in the direction of Alex. "And do me a favor Alex, don't switch the blade on the guy in shades!" Corey Hart musically hummed.

"I would never think of doing such a thing." Alex replied. And with that Corey Hart ascended back into the clouds with his arms spread like the angel he is.

Mockinal and Alex ran back to Dr. Ragland's house and rang the doorbell as soon as they arrived. No one was answering so Alex took this time to talk with Mockinal.

"Look, Mockinal I'm sorry about the past, I'm gonna make it up to you."

"There's no need for all that, you already saved my life." Mockinal was grateful that Alex saved him. This was going to make for one hell of story back at HQ. Alex and Mockinal waited patiently by the door until it was opened by Dana who was yawning in her slippers.

"Do you know what time it is guys? You woke me up from my beauty sleep."

"Very funny Dana, are you going to let me and Mockinal in." Alex was skeptical on whether or not Sarah told Dana where his whereabouts were. Otherwise Dana would have greeted him with a joyous smile and hug.

"Sure" Stepping aside Dana made room for the two them to enter.

"Ladies first" Mockinal joked.

Inside the house Alex figured that he was going to have to go looking for Sarah. It sucked that she didn't want him going out there but he had to fight. He just hoped that she wasn't too upset with him otherwise there'd be problems.

Out from the shadows a random hug was given to Alex. Sarah felt so terrible for giving such a rude goodbye. She didn't know what she'd do if Alex had died and those were the last things that she said to him.

"I missed you too Sarah" Alex said with a warm smile.

"I thought I'd never see you again. Never do that again ok?" Sarah pleaded. Her heart couldn't bear to see Alex get killed or even hear about it. He was here now and that was all she could wish for. Waiting to hear back from him was the most painful hours she has ever spent in her life.

"Have some more faith in me next time, I'm Alex Mercer after all." Mockinal was starting to get the feeling that he should give the two their space and followed Dana into one of the rooms to chat. Alex almost forgetting about the elusive item in his pocket and took it out to bestow upon Sarah.

"Here it's a little something I picked up for you on Valentine's day, I know it's late but I just got caught up with all the New York drama that was going on." Alex held up the necklace with his thumb and index finger and watched proudly as Sarah's face little up with astonishment. She always did like jewelry.

"Oh my god this is beautiful, thank you Alex!" Sarah almost knew that Alex hadn't forgotten about Valentine's day but she never once expected something this good.

"I was gonna have us go on a nice date to some fancy restaurant but as I said I got caught up." Sarah didn't care for the fact that they couldn't go on the date she was already happy enough. Planting a small kiss on Alex's cheek .She sits down on the couch preparing to sleep seeing that it was very early in the morning. Alex follows her and gets on the couch with her to cuddle and sleeps soundly.

A few years later Alex and Greene stand in the office building filing paperwork and other sorts of work. Ever since that speech Alex used his vast amount of money to fund his new company and cause In addition with Greene adding Pariah's fortune to the mix. The company name was coined as Infectacorp. It was an exceptional company that gave infected individuals a place to work, and Alex's cause advocated for equal rights towards infected individuals. It would have been so much more fortunate if the runners could consume individuals like Alex or Pariah but they unfortunately couldn't so they were stuck in permanent roles. They probably weren't immortal like Greene or Alex either.

"Alex we're doing well so far but we've got to work harder if we want the government to award infected people human rights." Greene confessed sighing her heart out. The work was plentiful but at least it was something to keep her busy with. Sharing this company with Alex was epic, and soon Alex and Greene would set out for gaining control over the country.

"Yeah I hear ya, it's a good thing we're smarter than the average bear or else we wouldn't have gotten this far." Alex admitted with same amount of tired like feeling as Greene gave. The phone rung and Alex extended his arm out to reach and grab it. Bringing the phone to his ear he listens to his subordinate speak.

"Mr. Alex, there is a man with the name of Mockinal who wants to see you. Should I let him in?" Alex paused for a second in his chair unaware of what Mockinal could have possibly wanted but he decided there would be no harm in letting him drop on by.

"Why not? Let the charming fellow in why don't you." Alex ordered with a reasonably professional tone of voice that had a hint of cockiness to it. Being a top tiering business man was some that Alex could take pride in.

"Who was that? A friend of your? You know we can't afford to be taking breaks all the time Alex."

Mockinal rode the elevator up and wore his usual black tanktop to show off his robotic muscles. Watching the elevator tick from floor to floor Mockinal was getting quite nervous. What if Alex said no? What would he do then? He already bought the stupid thing!

The doors opened and Mockinal walked down the path and turned a corner to find Alex standing outside a room in a black business suit.

"Wow you look sharp man, nice." Mockinal was thoroughly impressed by Alex's choice of suit-wear and to be honest he was a bit envious.

"Tell me Mockinal, what is the purpose of your visit?" Alex asked in an over exaggerated tone.

"This." Mockinal held out a ring and Alex stood there staring at it for a couple of seconds. Alex didn't know what to say. The thing looked like it cost a fortune.

"You wanna marry me?" Alex asked confused, he was a bit loud seeing that Greene was poking her head up from her desk to eavesdrop on the conversation. 'Someone's hitting on Alex, this should be interesting' Mockinal looked at Alex and shook his head.

"No dumbass, it's for Dana." Mockinal spoke in a matter of fact voice to correct Alex on his unwise assumption. Alex squinted his eyes and didn't speak for a brief second.

"You can't propose to Dana!"

"Why not?" Mockinal asked in a hurt voice. He was expecting his friend to be supportive or at least somewhat calm in answering no but he was shocked to hear Alex fire back.

"Because I'm going to propose to Sarah this weekend, we can't do it at the same time. Do you know how fucked up the wedding plan is gonna be if we did that?" Alex was excited for himself and Mockinal. Alex was okay with Mockinal Marrying Dana since he knew he was guy who could take care of her, and love her.

"Do it after I get married." Alex said.

"No way, I wanna get married first." Mockinal announced with a smile on his face. Alex couldn't believe that he was actually having this argument. He never once would have thought of himself to have an argument on who should get married first, since he was always the loner type.

"Listen if you want my blessings then you gotta do it on my time tough guy."

"Thank you Alex, you're like a brother to me." Mockinal said hiding the pain in his voice as he went in for a hug. Alex accepted the hug and patted Mockinal on the back.

"You're just lucky that I think you're a good guy otherwise I would have kicked your ass. I think you're perfect for Dana."

 _ **Author's note: This is the end my friends. I must admit I am a bit ashamed, disappointed, and unhopeful that I couldn't write to the best of my capabilities because of the pills I've been administered. Although I am happy to have finished it. Please let me know how you liked this story and please tell me what your favorite and least favorite part was. Thank you and goodbye.**_


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